Cloud Strife
by septasonicxx
Summary: AU. New Summary! Cloud's dream was to become a SOLDIER, but when he gets tangled up in the ShinRa world he realises there are more important things. Follows original storyline for a bit, then diverts. Cloud/Tifa/Reno, Zack/Aerith. ZACK IS NOT DEAD!
1. Chapter 1

_Cloud Strife stared at his mother's sleeping face, wondering when she was going to wake up. He sat down and rubbed his eyes sleepily while watching her. Eventually, the small three year old fell asleep beside her._

Someone gently stirred him, and he yawned, looking up to see his mother smiling down at him.

"Cloud, time to wake up!" she said happily, lifting him into her arms. He smiled and buried his face in her neck, taking hold of her hair. "Come on, let's go find daddy." she said. She walked out the door and into another part of the house where Cloud's father sat at a desk, working. He looked up and grinned, standing up.

"Cloud! How's my boy?" he asked. Cloud turned and a huge grin broke out on his face, reaching his arms out to his father.

"Daddy!" he said.

"Yes, that's me!" his dad said, taking him from his mother and hugging him. "You're going to stay with some friends today, remember?" A bit of uncertainty appeared in his eyes and his father chuckled.

"I want to stay with daddy." he said quietly.

"Sorry darling, we have work to do today." his mum said. "You'll see us this afternoon though." Cloud pouted but nodded slowly.

"Well then, go to mummy and she'll take you to the Lockhart's place." his dad said, handing him back over and sitting down to continue with his work. Cloud was taken out of the room and outside, where his mother took him next door to the Lockhart's.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to look after him!" Mrs Strife said, shaking Mr Lockhart's hand as he took Cloud.

"No problem. Besides, Tifa could do with some company." Mr Lockhart said, talking about his three year old daughter.

"Oh yes, they'll be such good friends when they're older, what with all the time they spend together." Mrs Strife said, smiling at Cloud. He grinned up at her and then they parted, Mr Lockhart taking him inside to find Tifa and Mrs Strife going back over to her house.

"We can go now, honey. Cloud's with Mr Lockhart." she said as she entered the room her husband was in.

"Ah, good." Mr Strife said, standing up and putting his stuff into a briefcase. "We'll have to talk to the president about something first, though." his wife nodded her head and together they left, certain that Cloud was in good hands.

Cloud sat beside Tifa with her father sitting on the couch across from them. He was reading a magazine while keeping an eye on them at the same time. Neither of the children said a word as they were both shy.

Finally, Mr Lockhart put the magazine down and sighed, looking over at them with an amused smile.

"How about we play a game?" he suggested.

"I'm sleepy." Cloud said quietly.

"Let's play a game! Let's play a game!" Tifa said excitedly, clapping her hands together. Mr Lockhart paused, having absolutely no clue what he was supposed to do now. "Please daddy?" Tifa begged, her little eyes looking up at him in the adorable way only she could do.

"Well, maybe a bit later when Cloud's feeling more awake." he said kindly.

"But I wanna play now! Cloud doesn't mind, right?" she asked, turning her face to look at Cloud. He turned to look at her and she smiled. He shrugged and she turned back to her father with a huge grin.

"All right, what do you want to play?" he asked. Tifa shrugged, an expression of adorable indecision on her face. "Okay, I'll go get some toys for you two." Mr Lockhart stood up and walked out of the room, finding some toys and bringing them back for the two kids.

After playing for a while, Cloud fell asleep on the couch and Mr Lockhart took Tifa to her room so she wouldn't disturb him.

Cloud woke up suddenly with the sound of ringing and rubbed his eyes, now recognising the sound to be the telephone. He looked around and saw Mr Lockhart walking towards it and picking it up, answering with a smile. Cloud closed his eyes to try and go to sleep, turning over onto his side and curling into a small ball.

"What!?" he heard Mr Lockhart say into the phone. He put his small hands over his ears, wishing to just fall asleep again. His eyelids were so heavy. "You have got to be joking!" Why was Mr Lockhart speaking so loudly?

"Daddy?" Cloud pushed himself into a sitting position and looked over to see Tifa peering around the door at her father. He looked up at the man on the phone and his eyes widened to see the look of horror on his face.

"How could this have happened?" Mr Lockhart asked. Tifa walked forward slowly, making her way over to Cloud and pulling herself up onto the couch.

"I'm scared, daddy looks upset." she said quietly. Cloud looked at her and smiled slightly, putting an arm around her.

"I'm here." he said. She smiled and leant against him, falling asleep. But Cloud's inquisitive eyes kept looking up at Mr Lockhart, wondering what was wrong. Life was simple and happy, so why was he upset? He saw some water sliding down Mr Lockhart's cheek and frowned.

The phone was hung up and Mr Lockhart looked over at Cloud, shaking his head slowly and then turning away to hide his tears, leaving the room. Cloud soon fell asleep and a small smile appeared on his face as he entered the world of happiness and dreams.

When Cloud woke up, Mr Lockhart carried Tifa to her own room and quickly returned, sitting beside him.

"Um, Cloud, you probably won't understand much of what I'm going to say, but I need to tell you because there isn't really any one else that can." Mr Lockhart began. Cloud looked over at the window and saw that it was beginning to get dark. That meant he'd be going home soon!

"I'm hungry." he said.

"Cloud, please listen. I got a phone call before and I was told something very important." Mr Lockhart said. Cloud remembered that. He had spoken really loudly. "I need to tell you about your parents." Cloud looked up at him, confused.

"Are they leaving me here for another day?" he asked. He didn't want to stay here for another day! He wanted to go home to his mummy and daddy and sleep in his own bed.

"I'm really sorry, but they're gone." Mr Lockhart said quietly. Cloud continued looking up at him with his large eyes, not understanding what was meant by that sentence.

"Where'd they go?" he asked.

"Cloud, I'm so very sorry." Mr Lockhart said, quickly reaching up and wiping his eyes. "Your parents are dead." Cloud froze, he even stopped breathing. He knew that word.

"Don't lie to me." he said quietly, taking slow breaths.

"I'm not lying, Cloud. I'm sorry." Mr Lockhart said. Tears rolled down the little boys cheeks and sobbed shook his entire body. His eyes welled up and he collapsed in a sad wreck. Mr Lockhart reached for the boy, trying to hug him to make him feel better, but he was pushed away. Cloud slipped off the couch and ran for the door, jumping a couple of times before finally getting the door open and running out. His small feet wouldn't carry him far, but he had to go home and find them to know everything was all right.

He ran across his front lawn and up to the door, banging on it desperately as he continued to sob. Mr Lockhart walked up behind the boy and picked him up, trying to calm him down.

"Cloud please, calm down." he said. "I'm sorry that this has happened, but everything will be all right."

"Mummy!" Cloud called, his whole body squirming to get away. "Daddy!"

Cloud woke with a start and sat up, forcing himself to breathe slowly again. He hadn't stopped having nightmares ever since his parents had died in a car accident. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, getting changed and stumbling down the stairs to get breakfast. Mr Lockhart had sent him to an orphanage, which was where he lived now.

He was the only one his age at the orphanage as all the other kids had either run off or were a lot younger. He was now eleven.

Finishing breakfast, he was about to leave when Tifa walked in, smiling and running over to hug him. She had grown into a beautiful girl and loved all the kids at the orphanage, feeling a great compassion towards them.

"Hey Cloud!" she said, letting go of him. "I was just stopping by to say hi. Me and some of my other friends are going to climb Mt Nibel. I'll see you in a bit, okay?" she said, smiling broadly still.

"Uh, sure." he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Cool! See ya!" she gave him a wave and ran out the door again. It only took Cloud about five minutes to decide he was going to go with them. He was out the door and heading towards the famous mountain, wanting to go with them but not be seen as her other friends didn't like him as much because he was an orphan.

Up ahead, he could see her and three other friends already running towards the mountain, smiling and laughing. Sighing, he trudged after them, allowing a large distance to grow in between. Soon enough, they were climbing the mountain.

"Tifa, you sure about this?" one of her friends asked cautiously, pausing for a breath. Cloud ducked down to hide as Tifa turned around.

"Of course! Come on, we'll make it to the top." she said, smiling at her friend and continuing to climb.

"Sorry, I'm gonna head back." her friend said. "It's too difficult." she admitted. Tifa turned back around and shrugged, nodding her head.

"Sure, I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay!" her friend began climbing back down and Cloud knew he couldn't hide from them. Tifa and the other two had continued on, and then Tifa's friend saw Cloud. "What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked.

"Climbing a mountain." he said, pushing past her and climbing higher.

A while later, the sky was darkening and there was a cold wind. They were about half way up and another of Tifa's friends had turned back, saying that it was too scary with all the rustles of leaves and such.

Tifa and her last remaining friend were up ahead, walking along a very old path that was on the mountain. Cloud slowly followed, glancing up at the sky every now and then. He definitely thought it was going to start raining.

"Tifa, I know I'm gonna sound like a scaredy cat but that storm is looking really fierce." her friend said.

"Oh. That's okay! You go head back, I'll keep going." Tifa said enthusiastically.

"You sure? By yourself?"

"Yeah! I'll be fine!" Cloud walked to the side of the path, ducking down behind some bushed as Tifa's friend walked back down the track. Tifa continued walking and Cloud quickly followed.

Just as they were nearing the top, the rain began to fall. Cloud rolled his eyes at it and tried to keep focus on Tifa as the dark clouds made it hard to see. Tifa stepped onto a rope bridge, swinging dangerously.

"Tifa!" Cloud called, rushing forward. That bridge wasn't strong enough after all the years, he could tell just by looking at it. She turned around, squinting through the rain and smiling when she saw who it was.

"Cloud! Come on we're almost at the top!" she turned and continued across the bridge. Cloud desperately ran forward, grabbing on the ropes and slowly making his way across.

"Tifa, come back! It's going to break!" he said. Tifa paused and looked over her shoulder at him.

"What's going to break?" she asked.

"The bridge! Come on!" he reached forward to take her arm, slowly edging backwards again with her.

"No, Cloud, I'm almost at the top!" she said, struggling against him.

"Please Tifa! It's dangerous!" he begged.

"I have to do this Cloud. You can go back though."

"I'm not leaving! If you go, I go." he said stubbornly. Tifa smiled.

"Great! Then come on!" she turned back and continued across.

"Be careful!" Cloud said, glancing down at the drop and gulping. Tifa nodded, finding his concern amusing. The rain slowly began getting heavier, and the wind swung the bridge from side to side. "Hurry! Get to the other side!" Cloud said. Tifa took another step and her foot went right through. She screamed, falling through the bottom of the rope bridge and only just managing to grab onto it again. Cloud yelled, jumping forward and taking hold of her wrist, desperately trying to pull her up again.

"Cloud!" she screamed, the sound echoing around the mountain. Cloud couldn't breathe. He couldn't lose Tifa! He could see her fingers going white as they held onto the rope, and inch by inch he could see them slipping.

"Hold on!" he said, blinking rapidly to keep the tears from falling, slightly glad for the rain that disguised this.

"I can't!" she yelled at him, fear in her eyes as her other arm floundered about trying to grab on. That was when her fingers slipped and she dropped a foot further, almost wrenching Cloud's arm out of it's socket as he held on tightly. He yelled in pain, reaching his other arm down to get a more secure grip.

"Everything'll be okay!" Cloud called to her, trying to make her feel better and also trying to think of a way to get her up easily.

"Don't let me go!" she screamed, chancing a glance downwards and closing her eyes tightly from fear of the distance there was to fall.

"You have to help me!" Cloud said, slowly wriggling backwards and trying to bring her hand up to the ropes again. He heard a slight creaking and looked up at where the rope was tied to a wooden post which began leaning with the weight.

Cloud looked back down at her and noticed that her hand was inches from grabbing the rope. "Come on, just a bit further." He clenched his teeth in concentration and heaved again. The wooden post gave a groan and the rope bridge bounced, causing Tifa to slip again.

"Don't let me fall!" she screamed, once again squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to shut out all the terrors that were happening around her.

"I won't!" he called back, his own eyes shut in pain as his arms took the strain. The wooden post heaved again and Tifa screamed, tears streaming down her face even though they couldn't be distinguished through the rain.

"Please Cloud! I'm scared!" Cloud fought the urge to tell her he felt the same, knowing it wouldn't do any good. The bridge swung again with the wind and Cloud opened his eyes to see Tifa's body swinging like a rag doll.

"Just hang on!" he said, once again trying to pull her up onto the bridge.

"I'm not holding on! You're holding me!" Tifa objected fearfully, wondering for a moment whether he was going to let go. Cloud took a breath and began pulling her up again. There was a flash of lightning which Cloud saw out of the corner of his eye and he braced himself for the thunder which would follow. He almost had Tifa at the rope when the thunder roared, a lot louder than Cloud had expected and jolting him.

"Sorry!" Cloud said, panting as his hands began slipping and Tifa sobbed continuously beneath him.

"Don't let go!" she begged, her voice quieter and almost unheard with all the noise of the storm going on around them. His hand slipped further and Tifa bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, struggling and trying to grab on herself. "Maybe you should just go get help!" Tifa suggested, looking up at him and blinking to keep the rain out of her eyes.

"Not until you're safe!" he said, fighting against the wind which threatened to throw him over the bridge.

"You can't do this by yourself Cloud! You're not strong enough!" Tifa said. "Don't try and do something you can't do! You'll only hurt yourself." Cloud almost let go of her, shocked at how blunt she was being. Did she want to fall? There she was, dangling from a rope bridge in the middle of a storm being held up only by Cloud and she was saying he couldn't manage.

"I won't let go!" Cloud said, not adding 'I promise' to the end as he knew he was horrible at keeping promises. Tifa knew that too, so it would be better if he didn't say it. He had always promised to do things at the orphanage and then never done them, or promised Tifa he'd hang out with her one day and then run off and hid because he didn't want to be around her friends.

"Promise me, Cloud!" Tifa yelled, as if she had read his mind. He looked down at her, a sad frown on his face as he considered saying it or not. Another gust of wind blew and the bridge swung dangerously, provoking a squeal from Tifa. "Please!" she said.

"I promise I won't let go!" he shouted, feeling guilty immediately after saying it and trying to ignore the pain in his arms. His fingers slipped from her wrists and in an instant he found himself holding tightly to her hands, the rain making them slippery.

"Cloud!" Tifa's heart beat fast in her chest and she thought she was going to die. How long had they been there, simply holding on for their lives?

"Don't look down!" Cloud said, trying to reassure himself with thoughts of her friends coming back with her father to help them.

"I already did!" Tifa called back in annoyance. A faint flash of lightning and a loud crack of thunder signalled that the storm was getting worse. Cloud glanced over at the wooden post holding the bridge up again and almost died in fright. It was almost completely leaning on its side, the wind tossing it around limply. There were only moments before it would be ripped out of the ground and they would fall.

A slight idea began forming in Cloud's mind, and before he could figure out whether it was going to work or not, he acted. One of his hands let go of Tifa and she screamed, tightening her grip and trying not to slip. He slowly inched sideways towards the wooden post while being careful not to rock the bridge too much.

"What are you doing?" Tifa screamed, more tears spilling from her eyes.

"Just hold on! I'm going to swing you to the bank!" Cloud replied, eyes fixed on the solid ground that was inches away from his hand.

"No! It won't work!" Tifa sobbed, terrified of what was going to happen. Cloud's fingers grazed what was dirt earlier on that day but had been turned to mud. There was no way he'd get a firm grip on it. Tifa was right. Another blast of wind sent Cloud toppling sideways while still holding Tifa's hand, pulling on the rope bridge and ripping the wooden post right out of the ground. It felt like he was flying for a moment, until Tifa's screams penetrated his thoughts and he realised he had let go of her hand in the shock and they were both free-falling.

He had broken his promise again, and he had actually begun to think he was going to be able to keep it.

He looked at the sides of the mountain as he fell, wondering how long it would take to reach the bottom and whether he would die on impact. He heard a thwack and looked down just in time to see that Tifa had landed in the water before he himself splashed in.

The impact of his fall had been lessened as Tifa had loosened the water when she hit it first. Cloud felt a wave of sickness come over him as he swam to the surface again, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the headache. He looked down at his arm and saw a bruise slowly appearing. Looking around to find Tifa, he saw her floating face-down a few metres away. Struck with sudden fear, he hurriedly swam over to her.

"Tifa?" he asked, slipping his arms around her and pulling her over to the nearest bank, lifting her up onto it and laying her down gently. "Tifa, please wake up!" he pleaded, biting his lip as he saw the blood on her forehead and arms. He glanced up at the dark sky through the clouds and wondered if anyone would realise they weren't okay.


	2. Chapter 2

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the light in the room. She turned her head slightly and saw Cloud slumped on a seat beside her with a red face and tear stains down his face. He was asleep. Tifa began to push herself into a sitting position, stopping as she felt pain shooting up her arms and a headache. Cloud stirred.

"Cloud? What happened?" Tifa asked quietly. His eyes opened suddenly and he sat up, wiping at his eyes and staring at her.

"You're awake!" he said, shocked. The door opened and Tifa's dad walked straight over to her with relief in his eyes. He shot Cloud a look which plainly said 'leave' and he did so without complaint.

"Tifa, are you feeling okay?" her dad asked, sitting in the chair Cloud had been in and pulling it close to the hospital bed so he could hold her hand.

"I guess. I have a slight headache though, and when I put pressure on my arms they hurt." she explained. He dad nodded slowly.

"I'm so glad you're okay though. I was worried you weren't going to wake up!" he admitted. "Why did you let Cloud go with you up the mountain?"

"I.. well he just followed." Tifa shrugged. "Besides, he's my friend."

"It was his fault you fell off the bridge." her dad said sternly, his mind made up.

"What do you mean? I wasn't careful enough. I misjudged my step and.." she paused, thinking about it. Cloud had been holding her and had promised he wouldn't let go. She sighed and looked down.

"Yes, it was his fault wasn't it." her dad repeated.

"He didn't mean to." Tifa mumbled. "Anyway, how long have I been asleep?" she questioned, looking up at her father again.

"A week." he replied, squeezing her hand gently.

"A week!?" she exclaimed. "How could I have stayed asleep for a week?"

"You were in a coma."

"A coma?"

"Yes, Tifa." her dad gave a weak smile and stood up, letting go of her hand. "I'll go notify the doctor that you've woken up." As he left the room, he frowned to see a blonde-haired boy running off.

Cloud rolled over on his side to face the wall. He knew it was his fourteenth birthday today but he really didn't care. No one else would, so why should he? He had been thinking about a pretty large decision the past few months and had finally decided to take action. He had everything planned out for that day, all he had to do now was get up.

Sighing, he stood up and got dressed, going downstairs to eat his breakfast and then leave the orphanage to find Tifa. He needed to tell her, at least.

When he found her, she was sitting with her group of friends laughing at something. They looked up and saw him standing there awkwardly about to leave. Tifa grinned and jumped up, running over to him.

"Hey Cloud! Wanna join us?" she asked.

"Sorry Tifa! Just remembered mum wanted me back home around now." one of her friends stood up and left, the others mumbling excuses and also leaving. Tifa shrugged, turning to face Cloud again.

"Did you want something?" Tifa asked. She secretly liked Cloud a lot. He'd always been there for her and kept coming to find her when she was with her other friends, even though they obviously didn't like him.

"I need to tell you something." Cloud said slowly, a serious expression in his eyes as he looked into hers. Her heart skipped a beat, silently hoping he would admit to liking her.

"Sure, what is it?" she asked calmly, trying to act casual. Cloud glanced around nervously and then back at her, shifting his weight.

"I'm leaving." he said quietly and shortly. Tifa felt like her heart had just dropped to her feet as she stared at the honesty in his eyes.

"Why?" she asked, knowing there was no point in questioning if he meant it or not.

"I'm going to join ShinRa and become a SOLDIER." he said and paused, waiting for the laughter, the mocking. Tifa stared at him. She blinked, continued staring and then flung her arms around him in a gripping hug.

"Please don't get yourself hurt!" she begged, burying her head in his shoulder. Very slowly, he brought his arms up and hugged her back, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"I'll try not to." he said.

"Look after yourself. Make new friends!" Tifa ordered, stepping back and quickly wiping her face to disguise the tears.

"I'll try." was the simple response.

"Try harder." Tifa said, looking up at him with a stern expression. He chuckled lightly and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay."

"Will you come back?" Cloud stopped, the words sinking in and his mind whirring to try and find an answer.

"I.." he didn't know. Would he? He sighed and shrugged. "I'm not sure. It'll depend on how things turn out."

"Well all right. Don't forget to write to me!" Tifa said, smiling.

"Yeah, no problem." he said, smiling again and turning to go back to the orphanage. He ignored the other kids as he went straight up to his room and pulled out the suitcase which he had already packed. Lugging it downstairs, a frown appeared on his face again as he realised Tifa hadn't remembered his birthday.

"Cloud?" one of the other kids looked up at him through large eyes and he ruffled the kids hair.

"See ya later, punk." he said, heading out the door and through the streets of Nibelheim to the bus stop. He had found out when the bus would be leaving, so all he had to do was wait for it and soon enough he would be on his way to becoming a SOLDIER and proving to everyone how much he was worth.


	3. Chapter 3

Cloud stepped into the ShinRa building and looked around, holding his suitcase in one hand. He had finally arrived. He walked up to the main desk and cleared his throat to get the receptionist's attention. She squinted at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What can I do for you?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm here to sign up _for_ SOLDIER." he said, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about.

"Oh, sign up to SOLDIER, all right." she said, correcting him slightly. She glanced at his scrawny figure and then shrugged, picking up the phone and pressing a button. "Yes, another one for SOLDIER. Same place? Okay." she put the phone down and smiled at him again. "Go down that corridor and turn left, then right and then the third door on the right again."

"Thanks." Cloud said, turning and walking off. The receptionist shook her head with a light chuckle, imagining the looks on their faces when he walks in.

Cloud entered the room and saw about a dozen other guys around his age wandering about talking to each other. A man walked over to him and extended a hand.

"Hello and welcome. You're here to try out for SOLDIER, ey?" Cloud nodded slowly, shaking the man's hand. "Well then, just hang out and chat for a bit to get to know the others. The try-out session will commence as soon as I can find Sephiroth." he left the room and Cloud stared after him. Why did he need to find Sephiroth of all people? The great Sephiroth.. why was he needed? Would he be helping out with the try-outs?

Cloud pushed the thoughts aside and looked again at the people gathered in the room. All of them looked like they'd already been training all their lives for this day! Cloud hadn't trained at all, would he even have a chance?

The door behind him opened again and he stepped forward to avoid being crushed, but failed. Someone slammed into him and he yelped. There was a grumble and Cloud turned to see Sephiroth standing there with a scowl on his face.

"Sorry!" he said, stepping back and looking up at the great SOLDIER with awe and fear in his eyes. Sephiroth looked down at him, the scowl still in place on his face. He rolled his eyes and muttered something else before pushing past roughly and going to stand at the front of the room. All chatter faded away and everyone stared eagerly.

"As you all know, I am Sephiroth, SOLDIER, First Class." he introduced himself. "You are all here to try out to be part of SOLDIER, so straighten up!" he ordered. All backs went straight and Sephiroth looked slightly appeased. "Now then, we will go straight into the training."

"Seph!" the door banged open and Sephiroth cringed in annoyance as Zack came running through and stopped beside his friend. "Found you!" he suddenly noticed there were other people there and turned to see all eyes on him. He grinned cheekily and scratched his head in what he thought was an innocent way. "Uh, hi!" he said.

"Fair, I'm busy right now." Sephiroth said.

"Oh come on!" Zack said, forgetting about their audience and turning back to Sephiroth. "You're always busy! Can't I help you this time?"

"Zack, look over there." Sephiroth pointed to where a very annoyed looking man was standing next to the door. Zack's eyes widened in horror and he made to hide behind Sephiroth. "Oh no you don't." Sephiroth said, pushing him towards the man.

"Come on Zack, it's time to go finish your paperwork." the man said in a low growl. Zack sighed, reluctantly heading for the door. As he left, he glanced at the kid standing closest. Cloud looked away quickly.

"All right, now we will go to the outside training facility." Sephiroth said, sighing and leading them through ShinRa until they came outside. One SOLDIER-in-training spoke up.

"Where's the training facility?" he asked tentatively. Sephiroth turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Look around you. You are to trek across this empty space, through the forest you will find and across the river." he explained. There was a pause and then Sephiroth added, "What are you all waiting for? Get moving!" Needing no further encouragement, all the trainees headed out. Once they were out of ear-shot, Zack appeared.

"Would you please go do your paperwork?" Sephiroth asked desperately.

"Why? You won't do yours. Besides, meeting new recruits is so much more fun!" Zack reasoned.

"It doesn't depend on what's more fun. And I would be doing my paperwork if I wasn't stuck here babysitting!" Sephiroth growled.

"Wanna swap places? You do your paperwork and I'll babysit!" Zack said happily. "You could even do my paperwork too!"

"Dream on, kid." Sephiroth muttered.

"I've been dreaming all my life, Seph!" Zack protested.

"Exactly, why stop now?"

"No fair!"

"Actually, it is fair. Seeing as your last name is Fair." Sephiroth attempted to make a joke. Zack stared at him and then cleared his throat, turning away and pretending to try not to laugh.

"That.. was so... lame!" he said, turning back to Sephiroth with a twinkle in his eye.

"I know. What kind of girl would marry a guy with the last name Fair?" Zack's jaw dropped and he couldn't believe he'd just heard that.

"Oh come on! Who cares about my last name? Girls love me anyway!" he said, grinning again.

"Um, Zack? I was talking about your mum and dad." Sephiroth pointed out. Zack pouted. "Oh hey, you don't know any of the new recruits do you? One of them looks familiar." Zack's pout fell from his face and curiosity replaced it.

"Eh? No.. who do they remind you of? And which one." Zack asked.

"The blonde one that I walked into. Oh, you weren't there. Um, he was standing at the door." Sephiroth tried to explain.

"Oh yeah! I saw him." Zack said, nodding. "So who does he remind you of?"

"I'm not sure yet. I keep getting some image of a turk in my head, but no names come to mind." Sephiroth shrugged.

"Maybe he's related to someone here and decided to come join them." Zack said, beaming at his ability to think up ideas. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

"Who cares? Just go finish up your paperwork. You'll meet all the trainees at lunch, anyway." Zack nodded eagerly and ran off. Sephiroth sighed, still not understanding why he had befriended that idiot, and then headed off to beat the trainees to the end.

Cloud had left his suitcase in the first room they'd all met up in and could see the forest up ahead. All the other trainees were slowly disappearing into the forest and there was only one that seemed to be finding it hard to keep up, though they were still in front of Cloud. Was this supposed to be some sort of race, thought Cloud?

The second last trainee disappeared into the forest and Cloud glanced around, slipping past the trees also and suddenly stopping. He couldn't see any of the trainees and he couldn't even hear them. It was as if as soon as they stepped into the forest they disappeared. Cloud walked forward a few more steps and looked over his shoulder. He fixed his eyes ahead of him again and he continued on.

"You think any of them'll make it?" The commander asked Sephiroth as he stood beside him on the other side of the river.

"Who knows. I doubt the blonde one will though, he's so scrawny." Sephiroth shrugged. The commander nodded in agreement.

"Well, any idea of how long they're going to be?" he questioned.

"We could be here till midnight tonight." Sephiroth informed him. The commanders eyes widened slightly but he tried to hide it.

"All right." he sat down and got comfortable, pulling out a book and beginning to read. Sephiroth smiled slightly in amusement but didn't look at him.

Cloud kept walking and wondered when the forest would end. What was the purpose of this exercise anyway? The silence was foreboding and Cloud just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. There had still been no sign of the other trainees and he was beginning to wonder if he was the last person to be stuck in the forest. Should he pick up the pace?

A noise to the left made Cloud stop and look, his heart thudding in his chest. There was nothing there and he began to think he was dreaming up sounds to get rid of the silence. Was that even possible? He shrugged off the thought and continued walking, only to hear the sound again and slightly louder. What was it?

"Hello?" he called. The noise sounded again and Cloud glanced around, slowly walking in the direction it was coming from, very aware that he still needed to reach the river.

"Please.." this time the sound was audible and Cloud began walking faster, wanting to know who it was that needed help.

"Where are you?" he asked, still unable to see anyone or any living thing amongst the trees.

"Don't let it find you." the quiet voice said. Cloud shivered at the words, glancing around in paranoia for something that would jump out at him. Walking further, he saw a form lying on the ground and hurried over, bending beside them.

"Are you okay?" he asked. His eyes widened as he realised it was the trainee that had been struggling to keep up with the others. "What happened?" Cloud's eyes wandered to the trainee's hand where it was resting on his chest. It was covered in blood.

"Get out of the forest." the trainee said quietly. "You'll die, just like me."

"You're not going to die." Cloud said firmly, looking over his shoulder in case there was something there waiting to attack. "Come on, I'll get you to safety." he bent lower and scooped his arms underneath the trainee, lifting him and slowly standing up and beginning to walk off again.

"It's no use, they're too strong." the trainee muttered, his eyes closing from exhaustion. Cloud staggered slightly as he tripped on a tree-root, trying not to be affected by the words the trainee was saying. He couldn't ignore it though.

"What are too strong?" he asked.

"I don't know. They're huge and powerful." the trainee's voice was getting softer and Cloud glanced down at him.

"Why did they tell us to come through here if it's so dangerous?" Cloud wondered aloud.

"To find the true SOLDIER's, of course." the trainee muttered. "If you don't make it, you're not worth the time and training." Cloud frowned slightly, thinking that wasn't very fair. There was a slight rumbling sound this time to his right and the trainee whimpered and began coughing.

"What is it?" Cloud asked, backing away from where the sound had come from.

"That thing," the trainee paused to cough. "Whatever it is." The trainee coughed again and a bit of blood came out of his mouth. "You can't help me.. don't worry. Just run and get away from it. Leave me here." Disbelief covered Cloud's face as he stared at the trainee that had completely given up on life.

"But I-"

"Go. Otherwise it'll destroy you like it's already destroyed me." Cloud slowly lowered the trainee to the ground where he smiled lightly and closed his eyes. There was a thud and Cloud looked up to see a huge beast standing amongst the trees watching him.

"Crap." he said, turned, and fled.

Sephiroth had eventually sat down as the first few trainee's began arriving, drenched in water from crossing the river. Apparently they hadn't discovered the bridge. Oh well, no point in telling them. The commander was ticking off a list as each one arrived and eventually only two names were left.

"What's taking them so long?" The commander asked.

"Do you even know what's in that forest, commander?" Sephiroth looked over at him.

"Well, no." he admitted. "Why, what's in there?"

"I'll tell you when we get back, come on." Sephiroth stood up and waited for the commander to follow.

"Don't we have to wait for the others?" he asked.

"They're most likely dead, come on." the other trainee's sucked in deep breaths and glanced at each other in horror.

"Dead?" the commander's voice trembled slightly.

"Yes, dead. They are the ones that fail. The other's get to train as SOLDIER's." Sephiroth began walking off and the commander scrambled to his feet, glancing at the trainee's and then following.

"I didn't know there was actually something that could kill us, but I did hear something. I wasn't sticking around though, I was just trying to get out of the forest as quickly as possible." one of the trainee's said. The other's nodded in agreement.

When they got inside again the trainees were told to wait in the room they had been in originally while Sephiroth went off to report who had failed. Unfortunately he didn't make it.

"Seph! I finished my paperwork!" Zack said, beaming. "Now can I meet the new recruits? I wanna see if I can tell who the blonde reminds you of."

"I'm busy and so are they. Besides, it's freaking midnight and the blonde failed." Sephiroth pushed past him and kept walking.

"Aww man, maybe the blonde was supposed to be a turk! Did you refer him to that?" Zack asked.

"Zack, don't act like you don't know how the system works. You got into SOLDIER, you should know." Sephiroth said, turning and looking at him pointedly. Zack's happy outward expression faded and he stood there, utter gloom enveloping him.

"I hate it. You know I try to pretend it's not how ShinRa does things." he muttered.

"I know. But you can't pretend forever. The blonde is dead and so is another guy. The other's are in the room you found us in just waiting to be attacked by your hyperness. Now would you please leave me alone?" Sephiroth sighed and left, leaving Zack to slowly make his way toward the room the trainees were in.

Cloud swung the branch and it smashed into the beast's head, causing it to let out an angry cry. It swung a paw and dragged it's claws through Cloud's shoulder. He yelled out in pain and beat at it with the branch again and again until it backed away with a growl.

"Don't you ever give up?" Cloud asked, looking around desperately for a thicker branch. The beast roared again and pounced. In defence Cloud did the only thing he could think of and held the branch out in front of him, closing his eyes and turning his head away. He felt the branch jerk wildly and something clawed at his stomach. Pain flooded through him and he dropped the branch, collapsing in pain.

Looking up slowly, his eyes widened as he saw the beast limping away with blood on its chest. He had defeated it! He painfully drew himself up and looked around for an exit out of the forest.

With no obvious signs of an exit, he decided to just head off and try and find his way back. As he walked, he couldn't help but think about the other trainee that had died. A cold wind blew through and Cloud winced as the air whipped around his wounds. His clothes were completely soaked in blood and he began wondering whether he was going to die as well.

"Yeah, and then I just put my sword up and the beast sort of spiked itself with it. But anyway, that's the story of how I defeated the almighty rat." Zack said, puffing out his chest with a grin. The trainees laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"You're a real laugh, mate." one of them said. Zack shrugged and gave an innocent look.

"So are you guys looking forward to being in SOLDIER?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Duh! We're gonna become the best!" another piped up.

"Absolutely!" Zack agreed, nodding. "Well, you stay here and do whatever, I gotta go finish up some stuff." with a wave, he walked out of the room. That bunch were cool, but they weren't really the kind of people he wanted to hang out with. They were too self-confident.

Walking through the corridors of ShinRa, Zack found himself nearing the lunch room. He grinned, feeling his stomach grumble at the mere thought of lunch, and walked towards the door. Just as he opened the door, Sephiroth and someone else came pushing past at a run.

"Seph? What's wrong?" Zack called.

"The blonde's alive!" Sephiroth called over his shoulder, already disappearing around the corner. Zack's eyes lit up. No one had ever been out in the forest for this long and survived. This would go down in the history books for sure. Zack took off at a run, following them. He wanted to congratulate this blonde trainee on his success.

Sephiroth put out an arm and stopped Zack from running straight into Cloud, who was being gently lowered onto a stretcher. The medics pulled a plain white sheet over him which began turning red almost immediately and then hurried him off.

"Is he gonna survive?" Zack asked, stunned.

"Who knows, probably not though." Sephiroth shrugged. "Once you get the poison in your body there's no knowing whether you'll live or die." Zack's mood sank again as he remembered about the poison.

"Maybe I should go check on him." Zack said.

"For goodness sake, the medics are looking after him Zack! And before you ask what you should do, for all I care, go write a letter to your girlfriend!" Sephiroth snapped. Zack gave his puppy-dog look and Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.

"Okay.. but she's not my girlfriend." Zack said, turning to walk away.

"Sure she isn't. And I'm not a first class Soldier." Sephiroth muttered. Zack spun around with wide eyes.

"You're not!?" he asked in horror. "All along, you were pretending?"

"Yes Zack, now go to bed." Sephiroth replied in a monotonous tone.

"All right Seph."

"Don't call me Seph."

"No problem, Seph."

"I mean it."

"I know."

"Get lost!"

"If you yell at me again, I'll tell Angeal." Zack said like a little kid back at school.

"And I'll bash the crap out of him, what's the point?" Sephiroth asked. Zack pouted and folded his arms.

"You're so mean."

"I know."


	4. Chapter 4

Cloud slowly opened his eyes to see a white roof and walls. He frowned slightly and tried to sit up, but pain prevented him from doing so. He glanced down and saw a thick bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder where he had been attacked by the monster. He felt so weak, as if he had been drained of life.

"Cloud Strife, isn't it?" a woman in a white lab coat holding a clip-board walked over to him. He nodded slowly.

"Yes, that's me." he confirmed.

"It's good to see you awake. We were wondering whether you'd make it or not but it looks like the poison was successfully pumped out." she explained, smiling. Cloud blinked and pushed himself up into a sitting position despite the pain.

"Poison?" he asked.

"The beast that attacked you of course. Whenever they scratch something poison comes from their claws and infects the wounds." the scientist said.

"Oh." Cloud responded, a sudden sick feeling invading his gut. He could've died!

"Yes, it's the first time that pumping the poison has ever worked!" the scientist said excitedly. Much too excitedly for Cloud's liking.

"First time?" he asked, his voice getting a bit higher.

"Of course! We've tried it many times before, but I guess the poison must have spread too far in all of those cases." she shrugged. "You should get some more rest, you'll be needed back in SOLDIER training tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!?" Cloud gasped.

"Well, yes. Why not?" she asked, confused.

"I'm injured! Look at me!" he said. The scientist raised an eyebrow and tucked her clip-board under one arm, smiling slightly.

"Teenagers. Always making a big deal out of everything. How old are you, fourteen?" she questioned.

"No, I'm fifteen." he corrected in annoyance. She raised an eyebrow and laughed lightly, turning and walking out of the room.

"Angeal!" Zack yelled, running around the corner and almost straight into his friend. Angeal turned to face him, a smile of amusement on his face.  
"Yes, Zack?" he asked.

"There's this trainee and he survived the forest! He's like half dead but alive!" Zack said, gasping for breath. He had obviously been running for a while in search of Angeal.

"Wow, really?" Angeal asked.

"Yeah! How cool is that? He was left in there for ages and had to walk all the way back to ShinRa while half dead." Zack explained.

"And this excitement you're expressing is hiding the fact you're actually ready to kill him with jealousy, right?" Angeal asked, putting his hands on his hips. Zack pouted and folded his arms.

"You're so cruel." he muttered.

"Look Zack, there are lots of people out there that are better than you, all right?" Angeal said, looking him in the eyes.

"Well duh! You don't have to rub it in!" Zack spat.

"Oh well, did you finish your paperwork?" Angeal asked, changing the subject so Zack wouldn't be too angry.

"Of course!" Zack said straight away, then paused. "Well, most of it." he admitted with a sheepish grin.

"You know what you're going to go do right now, don't you?" Angeal asked. "I'm supposed to be training you to be a better SOLDIER, how can I do that when you won't even complete your paperwork?"

"Come on, paperwork is like, unimportant." Zack shrugged.

"No it's not Zack." Angeal said. "Come on, you need to go do your work." Zack rolled his eyes but walked off to do it and a look of sadness came over Angeal's face as he watched him walk away. But he couldn't tell him, he couldn't tell Zack what was being planned.

Rufus Shinra himself walked into the infirmary. Cloud looked up and his eyes widened as he recognised him.

"Cloud Strife, isn't it?" Rufus asked.

"Yes, sir." Cloud replied.

"I see. So you're the one that survived the beast in the forest, am I right?" he asked, as if he wasn't certain.

"Yes, sir." Cloud repeated, not knowing what else to say.

"Sign of a true SOLDIER, that is." Rufus said. "If you work hard in all your training and don't slack off, you could make it up to first class in no time." Cloud stared at him, wondering if what he was saying was true. Could he, Cloud, really get to first class in no time at all?

"Thank you, sir." he said quietly. Rufus nodded slowly and then turned, walking out. Outside the room he motioned for his two best turks, Reno and Rude, to come over and walk with him.

"Need something sir?" Reno asked.

"Make sure the kid in the infirmary doesn't find out about his parents." Rufus said simply. Reno glanced at Rude, but as usual the bodyguards face was emotionless.

"Sure thing boss!" Reno said, fake saluting. Rufus glanced over at him with a slight look of disapproval but then sighed and turned the corner, leaving them. "I wonder who the kids parents are." Reno said, pretending to study his nails.

"Don't find out, it'll be easier that way." Rude said.

"What do you mean?" Reno asked, looking up.

"If you find out who his parents are you might be more compelled to tell him. If you don't know you can't tell if it's a good or bad thing and you're more likely to do your job." he explained.

"Rude, that's not fair! Come on, I'm just curious is all. I won't tell him, all right?" Reno pleaded.

"If you find out, you're on your own. And don't tell me who they are either." Rude turned and walked off and Reno grinned.

"You're saying Genesis hasn't shown up for the past two weeks training programs and you didn't tell me?" Rufus asked, anger laced with his words as he tried to conceal it.

"Yes sir." the quiet reply came.

"This place is falling apart! How can I have my SOLDIER's as the best of all when they don't turn up for training and the person supposed to make sure they come won't even find them!?" Rufus yelled.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Go find him, right now." Rufus ordered. When the man didn't move he clenched his teeth. "Well what are you waiting for?" he snapped.

"Sir, I've already looked for Genesis over these past two weeks and haven't been able to find him." he explained.

"I don't care! Look again!" Rufus narrowed his eyes and walked out of the room in a bad mood.

Angeal stretched and glanced over at Genesis, who was still leaning over the computer and tapping away at the keys.

"How long are you going to be?" Angeal asked, resuming his watching the door to make sure no one found them in there. There was no reply for a moment but then Genesis stood up straight and smirked.

"Done. Come on." Angeal headed over and followed Genesis as he walked towards the mako reactors. Pushing a button on the first one, the mako began draining out.

"I still don't get why we're doing this." Angeal said, glancing back over at the door as he went over to the second and pressed an identical button which made the mako in that one drain slowly out.

"And I don't have time to explain it, hurry up and drain the last one." he instructed. Once it was done, they both headed for the door again but Genesis grabbed Angeal's arm to stop him for a second. "You realise it starts now, don't you? They're going to get our fingerprints because that's how I planned it, are you ready or would you like me to wipe where you've touched so you can leave?"

"I'm ready. I agree with you on your views of ShinRa, Genesis." Angeal replied firmly.

"Good. Now hurry up and get what you want together so we can go." Genisis said, swiftly leaving the room and disappearing down the hallway. Angeal went the opposite way to his quarters, grabbing what he wanted and then leaving again to meet up at the designated spot.

"Angeal! I finished the paperwork!" Zack came running up once again. He stopped as he saw the things Angeal was holding in his arms. "Whatcha doing?" he asked curiously.

"Uh, nothing you need to worry about. Just clearing some stuff out." Angeal tried to walk past him but Zack gave the puppy-dog eyes.

"Am I annoying?" he asked quietly.

"No, Zack, why would you think that?" Angeal asked.

"Well, you're always trying to get away from me." Zack shrugged.

"I'm just really busy right now, I'm sorry." Angeal once again tried to get past him. The alarm sounded and Zack stared at Angeal for a moment before running off to see what was going on. Angeal took that moment to run in the opposite direction.

Cloud looked up, watching the doctors all hurriedly lock folders in cabinets as the alarm went off. They all knew there was an enemy somewhere in ShinRa and didn't want their documents to be stolen.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked.

"Hush, stay quiet." one nurse said, putting a finger to her lips urgently. He frowned slightly but did as asked, not speaking up as everyone slowly left the room and he was alone again.

"Quick!" Genesis yelled as Angeal ran towards him and the exit of ShinRa. There were people running around in a frenzy and many of them were staring at Angeal and Genesis, wondering if they had something to do with this. The two of them left ShinRa and kept running, some other guards appearing from other exits and all following them.

Zack ran into the lab and stared at the empty mako reactors. Rufus Shinra turned to face him with a scowl on his face as some remaining scientists finished getting the fingerprints.

"Did you have something to do with this too, Zack?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked, confused.

"Where you working with Angeal and Genesis?" Rufus snapped angrily. Zack stood there staring at him for a minute before his eyes began widening in disbelief. Rufus sighed, knowing that Zack couldn't fake such shock.

"What happened?" Zack asked.

"They emptied the mako reactors which were scheduled to be used this afternoon by a couple of scientists wanting to conduct an experiment." Rufus informed him.

"On SOLDIER's?" Zack asked.

"No, Zack. Would you listen? It doesn't matter what the experiments were for. Angeal and Genesis have directly disobeyed an order by involving themselves in matters that are confidential and stopping something from proceeding which had been given the go-ahead." Rufus continued. "They must be planning something. They deleted all the files for the experiments from the computer."

"Angeal wouldn't do that!" Zack protested, his eyes blazing.

"At least I can know for sure you're on our side, Zack." Rufus turned back to one of the scientists and Zack looked around, his eyes narrowed in anger that people were blaming Angeal.

"What if they were framed?" Zack asked. Rufus turned back to him with a bored expression on his face.

"Zack, they did this deliberately so that we'd find their fingerprints and know it was them. Besides, Genesis hasn't turned up to training for a week." Zack frowned, still not believing that his best friend would betray him like that.

"There must be a reason. Maybe they're just playing a prank by emptying the mako, come on." Zack shrugged, trying to think of reasons for their actions.

"Has Angeal acted strangely lately Zack?" Rufus asked.

"Of course not! He's normal! As normal as anyone can be when they're a SOLDIER, at least." he replied.

"Right, this investigation will be continued later on. Zack, get back to whatever you were just doing." Rufus instructed, leaving the room. Zack narrowed his eyes into a glare and walked off in a huff.


	5. Chapter 5

Cloud slowly walked out of the hospital room and through the corridors of ShinRa. He couldn't believe it. He'd only just arrived and he was already half-dead and there had been an enemy within the building. He sighed, glancing down at a map one of the nurses had given him and trying to navigate his way to the sleeping quarters.

"Hey, kid! You're the one that survived the beast, am I right?" Cloud looked up to see a grinning turk with red hair walking over to him.

"Uh, yeah." he nodded.

"What's your name?" the turk asked. "I'm Reno."

"Cloud Strife." Cloud replied. Reno nodded slowly, letting the name sink in and repeating it in his head a few times so he wouldn't forget it.

"Well, see you round, kay?" Reno said, turning with a wave and walking off. Cloud frowned slowly but pushed the thought out of his mind and continued walking.

"Move it! I want to see you sweating!" yelled the instructor, walking around the room and observing the trainee's progress. Someone walked in the door and saluted, waiting for the instructor to come over.

"This letter came for Mr Strife, sir!" the man said. The instructor yanked the letter out of the man's hands and looked it over, taking it over to Cloud.

"Read it quickly and get back to work." the instructor ordered. Cloud nodded, his hands shaking slightly as he opened the envelope and read the letter. His eyes widened. Tifa had written to him.

Pocketing the letter, Cloud quickly went back to training. But he couldn't push the thought out of his mind that Tifa had written a letter to him. She hadn't said much. Just that she was missing him and hoped he'd arrived safely. Oh yeah, and that she wanted him to write back.

After training, Cloud went back to the room all the trainee's shared and looked around. Everyone had already grouped off and made friends. Great.

"I know, I reckon he cheated somehow." someone mumbled to their friend. Cloud inconspicuously moved closer to listen. Who had cheated?

"Yeah. I mean, they said no one had ever survived alone in the forest for that long and he's the scrawniest thing on earth so it's just not possible!" Cloud stiffened slightly. They were talking about him.

"Oh well, even if he did survive the forest there's no way he's gonna survive all the training. I bet he didn't even train before coming here! Probably just wanted to become a SOLDIER to impress someone and hopped on the first train he could get." Cloud turned to face the door and fought to stop himself from going over there and yelling at them. How did they know he hadn't trained and that he wanted to impress someone?

"We're not gonna try and teach him a lesson, are we? You know it'd just waste our time and he'll fail without our help anyway." Cloud began walking towards the door, not wanting to hear any more of it.

"Dude, he's here! You think he heard what we said?" someone else said, trying to speak in a quiet voice and failing.

"Crap!" another said. Cloud ignored them and walked out the door, crashing straight into Zack and stumbling backwards again.

"Woah! Careful." Zack said, looking down at him. "Hey! You're Cloud Strife, right?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Uh, yeah." Cloud mumbled.

"Awesome! I'm Zack." and the rambling began. Zack went off into a spiel about himself and then continued to talk about how amazing it was that Cloud had survived the beast and then he told Cloud about all his friends.

"Wow.. okay." Cloud said slowly.

"Yeah! So, made any friends yet?" Zack asked. Cloud looked down and shook his head. "That's okay! You just have! So, what do you wanna do? We could go terrorise the Turk's, or we could annoy Sephiroth, or, oh my gosh I have a brilliant idea!" Zack grabbed Cloud's arm and began running, dragging the poor kid behind him.

"Um, what's your idea?" Cloud asked, having a very bad feeling about this.

"We'll annoy Rufus!" Zack said excitedly. Cloud could have died on the spot. He was going to get kicked out, he just knew it. "Don't worry, if anything happens blame it all on me." Cloud just nodded numbly.

They rounded a corner and Zack ran ahead, peaking into a room through the window on the door. A grin appeared on his face as he ducked below the window and signalled for Cloud to come closer.

"Do we have to do this?" Cloud whispered.

"Yes!" Zack hissed back. He looked so excited Cloud was amazed he wasn't dancing on the spot. "Okay, I'm going to go in there and start talking to him and accidentally knock his coffee off his desk all over him, kay?"

Gulp. "Okay."

"Good. Then when I run off to get something to clean up, I want you to come in and tell him the other trainees are involved in a really big bad fight. And-"

"You want me to lie!?" Cloud asked, shocked.

"Duh! Don't worry, he won't care." Zack shrugged. "So then he'll probably come running and he'll have coffee all over him and as he walks over the door I'll trip him so he falls flat on his face. Sound good so far?" Zack's eyes were lit up with absolute eagerness and Cloud couldn't help but nod.

"Then what?" Cloud asked quietly, almost scared of the answer.

"Leave it to me." Zack grinned, stood up, and entered the office of the President of ShinRa. Cloud thought about running away, but didn't want Zack looking like a complete idiot. Besides, he himself already knew what that felt like.

"What the heck is wrong with you Zack!?" came a loud yell from the office. Cloud's eyes widened and he heard muffled laughing from Zack.

"Sorry! I'll go get something to clean it." the door opened and Zack walked out, shutting the door behind him and giving Cloud the thumbs up. Cloud slowly walked towards the door, took a deep breath, and walked in.

"Sir?" he said. The President of ShinRa looked up at him with a glare on his face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Uh, the other trainees are fighting and it looks pretty bad." he said. Rufus Shinra raised an eyebrow.

"And you got out of there unharmed?" he asked.

"I was walking by outside when I heard it. So I looked in to see what was happening and then I came to tell you." Cloud said, making it up on the spot and hoping it wasn't obvious that he was scared out of his brain. Rufus sighed.

"All right, I'll see what I can do." he stood up and walked around his desk. Cloud nodded and walked out the door, falling flat on his face.

"Crap! Sorry spikey!" Zack said, absolute horror covering his face as he realised he had just tripped the wrong person. Rufus looked out at him and if looks could kill Zack would have been dead.

"Zack, I am going to kill you." Rufus said. Cloud scrambled to his feet and started inching away, his eyes showing the pure fear. "Did you get him to come in and talk to me so I'd walk out?" Rufus asked, already cluing in to Zack's plan. Zack nodded sadly.

"It's all my fault, I know." Zack said. "But I was bored! Come on Roofie, you know what happens when I get bored!"

"Zack, what have I told you about calling me nicknames?" Rufus asked, trying his best not to attack Zack and also knowing that if he did he would probably get decked anyway.

"I know, I know. Don't call you anything that your mother didn't name you." Zack shrugged.

"No Zack, don't call me anything other than 'Mr President' or sir." he corrected. Zack rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." he looked up at the glare on Rufus' face and sighed. "Sir."

"That's better. Now, I don't want to see you poisoning the trainees minds and making them disobey the rules when they've only just joined ShinRa." Rufus said.

"So later on when they've been here for a while, then I can poison their minds and make them disobey the rules?" Zack's face had lit up again.

"No!" Rufus yelled. He groaned in annoyance and rubbed his head. Zack was such a handful and the only reason he kept him at ShinRa as a SOLDIER was because he was getting to be as good as Angeal, who wasn't far from Genesis and then in turn, wasn't far from Sephiroth.

"I'm sorry, sir." Cloud said quietly. Rufus looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "He didn't really give me a choice."

"I said you could blame me, not make me sound like a horrible manipulative guy!" Zack protested.

"It's all right Zack, I already knew you were a horrible manipulative guy." Rufus said. "I'm sick of dealing with your idiocy, so next time you want to annoy someone go annoy Lazard."

"Whoo! Come on Cloud." Zack said, spinning around and beginning to run off. Cloud's eyes went wide and he stepped away slightly. Zack stopped running and looked back at him.

"Come on! We've just been told by the President of ShinRa to annoy Lazard, so come on! This is our big chance! We can't get in trouble this time." Zack urged.

"You're a horrible manipulative guy, Zack." Rufus said, turning and walking back into his office. Zack's mouth fell open as he stared at the closed door and then looked over at Cloud.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

"No, sorry." Cloud said.

"Okay! I'll tell you all about it when I get back!" Zack grinned and took off. Cloud sighed and walked off to the dorms again.

"Dad, please!" Tifa begged.

"What did I say?" her father asked, looking at her sternly.

"You said no, but please! Just think about it some more." she persisted. "I'd go straight to ShinRa and find Cloud just to make sure he's all right and then I'd come straight back!" she said.

"No, Tifa! I don't want you going near Cloud Strife. Personally, I'm glad he left." her father shrugged.

"How can you say that? He was my best friend!" Tifa snapped.

"What about your other friends?"

"What about them? Yes, they're my friends too, but they're not the ones that I always have to stick up for!" Tifa argued.

"Look, you're not going to visit Cloud and that's that."

"But dad-"

"Has he written any letters?"

"Well, no not yet-"

"Until he writes you a letter and proves he actually cares that you're his friend, I will not allow you to visit him."

"Oh come on!"

"No." he walked out of the room and Tifa stomped her foot angrily.

"Please write back to me, Cloud." she whispered.

Reno typed away crazily at the computer, his eyes scanning all the information as it whizzed past and desperately searching for something with the name Strife. Rude was standing at the door with his arms folded and a very bored expression on his face.

"Are you done yet?" he asked.

"You can leave if you want." Reno replied, still focused on the computer screen. "Aha!" he suddenly said, jumping out of his chair and punching the air.

"Remember Reno, don't tell me." Rude said, glancing over at his partner. Reno didn't hear him, he was too busy reading the information on the screen. His expression changed to one of disbelief and shock and he slowly sunk back down into his chair.

"No way." he said slowly. Rude stared out the door, trying not to let Reno's reaction get to him. "Oh the poor kid." Reno said, shaking his head. Rude took a deep breath and rolled his eyes.

"Fine Reno, tell me." he said, walking over to the computer.

"The kids parents were Turks like us!" Reno said. "When he was three they died on a mission but he was told ever since that it was a car crash. They lied to him."

"There you go, are you satisfied?" Rude asked.

"Nope!" Reno said happily. Rude groaned in annoyance and walked back over to the door to continue waiting.


	6. Chapter 6

"It was Rufus's idea! I'm just an innocent by-stander!" Zack pleaded, half bent over with his hands over his head to try and shield himself from Lazard's anger.

"Innocent by-stander? What, so nowadays the innocent by-standers are the ones doing all the dirty work? I know it was your idea Zack, you've done it before." Lazard said.

"Oh, come on!" Zack whined, straightening up.

"And since when does the President come up with ideas like that?" Lazard questioned before Zack could continue.

"Well, Cloud and I went and annoyed him so then he told me to go annoy you instead!" Zack beamed.

"And who is this Cloud?" Lazard asked with a sigh.

"Oh, the one that survived the beast in the forest!" Zack said excitedly.

"Great, you're polluting a good SOLDIER-in-training's mind." Lazard groaned and sat back down on his chair behind his desk. Zack leant his hands on the desk and grinned at Lazard.

"He's really good at making up stories though! You should hear him!" Zack whispered as if he was telling a secret.

"That's nice, can you please go write a letter to your girlfriend?" Lazard asked, pulling a folder out from under Zack's hand and opening it to start his paper-work. Zack stood up properly, not leaning on the desk any more.

"How many times do I have to say this? She's not my girlfriend. And how come everyone knows about her?" Zack put his hands on his hips and tilted his head in that adorable way.

"Please leave me alone. Or else I'll put you in stationary." Lazard said.

"Stationary?.." Zack's eyes widened. "No please don't! Please! I'll be good! Don't put me in stationary! What if Sephiroth came and told you I was good enough to be a first class, would you take me off stationary and promote me?" Zack's eyes had filled up with fake tears and he was now on his knees, begging Lazard with everything he had. Lazard sighed.

"Leave me alone and I won't put you on stationary." he said. Zack stood up, fake saluted and ran off. "It's a wonder no one else uses that when trying to get rid of him." Lazard muttered to himself.

Tifa paced her room anxiously. She really wanted to visit Cloud at ShinRa but couldn't until he sent her a letter. It was just because her father didn't like Cloud, and she knew that.

"It's so unfair." she muttered, sitting down on her bed. "Why doesn't anyone like Cloud?"

"Tifa! The post is here!" Tifa jumped up and ran out of her room, a look of desperation in her eyes as she ran out of the house and grabbed the mail, flicking through it for one addressed to her.

Walking back inside with the letters in one hand and a dejected expression on her face, she looked up at her father and slowly shook her head, dumping the letters on the table and walking to her room. Her father had a knowing smile on his face as he took the rest of the letters and began opening them one by one.

"Spikey!" Zack called, standing in the doorway of the dorm. A lot of the trainees looked over with raised eyebrows, especially when Cloud began making his way over.

"What is it Zack?" Cloud asked.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go sabotage Sephiroth!" Zack said happily.

"No thanks." Cloud turned to walk off again and Zack shrugged.

"Well, guess what happened with Lazard!" Cloud slowly turned back to Zack, waiting for him to continue speaking. "He's totally thinking about promoting me to first class!"

"Uh, why would he want to promote you after you annoyed him?" Cloud asked.

"I dunno! Just does!" Zack said, his face one big happy expression that could have been glowing if it was possible. Cloud nodded slowly, a you're-weird expression on his face.

"Look, I've got training again in a few minutes, so could you let me get ready?" Cloud asked.

"You seriously do!? I'm the one that's taking the training session!" Zack grinned. Cloud would have hit his head against the wall if it was closer.

"Yippee." Cloud said in a monotone. "So can you leave now?" Zack nodded and glanced up at Cloud's hair, an amused grin on his face as he walked out. Cloud swallowed and reached a hand up to his hair to check that it was okay. Once satisfied that it was fine, he walked back over to his things.

"So you survived the beast, right?" another trainee asked, walking over. His friends followed and they folded their arms, looking at Cloud with smirks on their faces. He shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah."

"That's all you have to say?" the other trainee asked. "Come on, we know you cheated."

"I didn't cheat." Cloud said, trying to get rid of the lump that had formed in his throat.

"Oh sure you didn't." the trainee said. "It's just that, you're so scrawny! And you always struggle in the training sessions." he shrugged.

"I almost died from the beast." Cloud said.

"I know. I wish you had." the trainee spat, glaring. "Get him, boys." The trainee's friends stepped forward and grabbed Cloud, dragging him out of the room as he yelled and kicked to try and free himself.

"Time to put you in your place." the main trainee said, walking along behind them. The others chuckled and Cloud's eyes widened when he saw the room they were entering. The locker room.

"You got your key?" one guy asked. The trainee nodded and walked over to one of the large lockers, opening it and smirking over at Cloud, who was being dragged over and was soon shoved inside.

"Stop it! Let me out!" Cloud said as they swung the door shut and locked it.

"If you couldn't get away from us, there's no way you could've gotten away from the beast. You cheater." the trainee said, whacking the locker and then laughing, walking out with his friends to go to the training session.

Cloud stared through the slats on the door of the locker and felt a tear fall from his eye. Hugging his knees close to him, he let the silent sobs shake his body.

Zack was standing very tall with his arms behind his back and his chin up high, walking in front of the trainees and trying to make it seem like he was superior to them.

"First lesson of today is interrogation." Zack said.

"That's not right." Lazard said from the side of the room. Zack jumped and looked over, slight fear in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Zack asked. The trainees snickered.

"I was observing your ability to do the right thing when you're the highest ranking officer in the room. So far, you're not doing very well." Lazard walked up to the front of the room and raised an eyebrow at Zack as if challenging him.

"It was a joke!" Zack said.

"Ha ha." Lazard said. "I'm going to go continue with my paperwork now, please teach them the right thing." he glanced at the trainees and then walked out of the room with a sigh. Zack turned back to them with a grin.

"Okay, so, interrogation." he said, then paused. "Where's spikey?" Silence followed, and Zack knew that when that happened something bad was being kept from him. "Where's Cloud Strife?" he asked, a bit more forceful than before.

"I think he's skipping class." one trainee said quietly. Zack rolled his eyes and groaned.

"All right." he mumbled, and then continued with the class.

Sephiroth walked into the locker room to get something and went to his locker, opening it and taking out the wanted object which could have been mistaken for toothpaste. Cracking his neck, Sephiroth put some of the 'paste' onto his finger and then ran it through his hair. Ah, so it was hair gel.

Putting the gel back into his locker and shutting it, he paused. He could hear something. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw one of the lockers shake slightly and walked over to it. He blinked and his eyes widened. There was someone inside there! He only knew because he could hear the sobs.

Bringing a fist up, he slammed it down on the lock and watched as it fell to the ground in a broken heap. The sobbing had ceased. Sephiroth swung the door open and looked in.

"Oh, it's you." he said, reaching a hand in and grabbing Cloud's arm to pull him out.

"Th-thanks." Cloud mumbled.

"Don't mention it." Sephiroth said, and then narrowed his eyes. "Seriously, don't ever mention it."

"Um, okay." Cloud said.

"Good." Sephiroth said, and sighed. "Now I've got to go get another lock for this door." he muttered.

"Sorry." Cloud said quietly.

"It's not your fault you got shoved in a locker. If it was I'd knock you flat for causing trouble." Sephiroth said. Cloud nodded slowly and began walking for the door. "Next time they shut you in a locker, keep yelling until someone finds you."

"Okay." Cloud said meekly, not liking the sound of being shut in a locker again or calling out and having someone find him in a locker. Sephiroth mumbled something to himself and picked up the dead lock, walking out of the room and past Cloud.

"Zack, I didn't call you in here for no reason. Please sit down." Lazard said. Zack sat down, a slightly concerned expression on his face.

"Should I be worried?" he asked.

"No." Lazard said, picking up a file and flicking through it. Zack sighed in relief and relaxed, waiting calmly for Lazard to speak again. "You're a first class now Zack." Lazard said. There was silence as the words sunk into Zack's brain.

"I'm.. I'm.. I'm a first class SOLDIER!" he yelled, jumping out of the chair and running out of the room to tell everybody the great news. Lazard sighed and shook his head, continuing with whatever he had been doing. But was interrupted again.

"What, Zack?" he asked, looking up.

"Do I get my own apartment? Cause Seph has one and so does Genesis and Angeal! You know, being first class and all." Zack said, bouncing on the spot with a grin on his face.

"If you behave well for the next month or so, I'll think about it." Lazard said, remembering that for most First Class SOLDIER's they did usually get them their own apartment close to ShinRa.

"I'll be so good you won't even know it's me!" Zack said.

"Yes, that would be the case if you actually decided to act well and follow the rules." Lazard said.

"You're horrible. Just like everyone else at this place." Zack said. "Oh but, how did I make it to first? Like, did someone tell you I would be good or was it shown in my training or what?" he asked excitedly.

"You were suggested to me." Lazard said.

"By who?" Zack asked, itching to know who he needed to go and glomp. Lazard sighed and leant his head on his hand.

"Please don't do anything drastic when I tell you this. You were actually suggested to me by two people." Lazard explained. Zack's mouth fell open and his eyes widened.

"Serious? Who!?" he urged.

"Angeal and Sephiroth." Lazard said. Zack whooped and ran out of the room. Lazard waited, just in case he was planning on coming back again, and then continued with his work.

Cloud had just received another letter from Tifa and was heading towards his bed so that he could curl up and read it.

"Hey, how'd you get out so fast?" the trainee called out. Cloud stiffened and looked over, pocketing the letter.

"Uh, I kicked the door open." he said. No way was he going to admit that he got found in there by the General. How embarrassing!

"I don't believe you." the trainee said.

"Look, I'd love to stay and have a fight, but I really have somewhere to be." Cloud said, hurrying towards the door. Amazingly, the trainee let him leave. But of course, because Cloud was in a hurry and not properly watching where he was going, he crashed into someone and fell flat on his back. Everyone in the dorm laughed.

"Strife, on your feet." Cloud quickly scrambled to his feet, his face going bright red as he realised it was Sephiroth.

"Sorry, sir." he mumbled.

"I think Zack is looking for you. I got away before he saw me but he was singing and dancing so I'd imagine you should hide out for a bit unless you want to get attacked." Sephiroth said.

"Oh, um, thanks." Cloud said, glancing back into the room where he knew the trainee was just itching for him to walk back in so they could fight.

"Just thought I'd warn you." Sephiroth said, turning to walk away.

"Uh, sir?" Cloud said, taking a step forward and almost dying from nerves. He was talking the the Sephiroth. It was enough to make anyone nervous.

"What is it?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well, I was just wondering, cause if I go back in there they'll probably bash me up and if I wander around out here Zack will find me, could I hang out with you?" he'd said it. But there was no way the General would say yes. It just didn't happen like that. Trainee's didn't hang out with First Class SOLDIER's. At least, not Sephiroth.

"I don't see why not." Sephiroth shrugged. There was the far off sound of singing and Sephiroth mumbled something under his breath. "Come on, we'll go this way." Sephiroth said, jerking his head in one direction and walking off. Cloud could not believe what had just happened and just followed Sephiroth in a bit of a daze.

"Clooooouuuuud!" came the singing voice of Zack. Cloud's eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder. Zack hadn't found them yet. Passing a random room, Sephiroth reached in and grabbed something, shoving it into Cloud's hands.

"Put that on and he won't know it's you." he explained. Cloud looked down at the white lab coat and back up at Sephiroth, wondering if the General was joking or not. It didn't look like it.

"Sephieeee!" Zack rounded the corner. Cloud hurriedly put the lab coat on.

"What is it, Zack?" Sephiroth asked, turning to face him and stepping in front of Cloud so as to hide him.

"I love you!" Zack yelled, running straight for him. Sephiroth's eyes widened as Zack suddenly jumped and wrapped him in a huge hug.

"Zack, I am incredibly disturbed at this moment." Sephiroth said. "Get off me."

"You suggested me for First Class SOLDIER!" Zack yelled happily, right into Sephiroth's ear. Sephiroth winced.

"Get off me." he repeated. Zack reluctantly let go and grinned up at him.

"Do you know where Spikey is?" he asked.

"You have a dog?" Sephiroth asked.

"Hey! Don't refer to him that way! That's mean!" Zack defended. Sephiroth sighed, figuring out that he had no hope of making proper sense to Zack at this moment.

"Look, I think I saw him that way." Sephiroth pointed behind Zack and he grinned, bouncing off excitedly.

"Thanks." Cloud said, stepping out from behind Sephiroth and taking off the lab coat.

"Again, don't mention it." Sephiroth said, glaring down at him. Cloud gulped and nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

"Cloud, where on earth did you disappear to the other day?" Zack asked, running up to him.

"Uh, dunno." Cloud shrugged.

"Oh well. Okay, you will never guess what happened." Zack said, a grin breaking out on his face in excitement.

"I'll try anyway. Let's see, Lazard promoted you to First Class?" Cloud asked, then frowned and shook his head. "Nah, no way that would happen. Uh, you got a girlfriend? No wait actually I doubt you'd be able to do that either." Cloud said, looking like he was seriously trying to think of what it was. Zack stared at him, gob smacked.

"Cloud, you got it right." Zack said.

"I did? Cool! So, what's her name?" Cloud asked, looking interested.

"Who's name?" Zack asked.

"You got a girlfriend, didn't you? So tell me what her name is!" Cloud repeated.

"She's not my girlfriend! Can we please stay on topic?" Zack said in frustration, running a hand through his hair.

"I thought this was the topic you wanted to talk about." Cloud said. Zack paused and stared, blinking as if trying to remember something.

"Uh, what was I trying to say before?" he asked.

"I don't know Zack, you didn't say it! Obviously." Cloud shrugged.

"Oh yeah! Guess what?" Zack beamed. "I'm a first class SOLDIER!"

"Okay, you've had your fun. Can you tell me the truth now?" Cloud asked. Zack's smile slowly faded.

"Huh?"

"Well you couldn't possibly be a first class, so what do you actually want to tell me?" Cloud said, shrugging.

"No! Seriously! I'm a first class!" Zack persisted.

"Really?" Cloud asked.

"Yes!" Zack began bouncing up and down on the spot and Cloud stepped away slightly. "And guess who suggested I should be First Class? Angeal and Sephiroth!" Zack yelled, punching the air and doing a little dance.

"They must be absolutely insane." Cloud muttered, trying to inch away while Zack wasn't looking.

"So Cloud, what do you wanna do?" Zack asked. Cloud froze.

"What?" Cloud asked.

"What do you wanna do? I'm bored." Zack shrugged.

"I'm going to go back to my dorm, walking through a dangerous area of land mines to get there and then I am probably going to be sitting down for a while." Cloud said. "But you? You can do whatever you feel like." Zack blinked.

"Eh?"

"Bye." Cloud turned and walked off, leaving Zack to stare in absolute confusion.

"Why didn't he tell me he could speak another language?" Zack mumbled to himself, spinning around and running off as a smile appeared once again on his face.

"Zack, you're friends with that Strife kid, yeah?" Zack looked over to see Lazard holding a phone by his side.

"Sure am!" Zack said.

"Do you know where he is? There's a call for him." Lazard explained.

"Oh! Who is it? Can I talk to them?" Zack asked excitedly. Lazard sighed and rolled his eyes.

"All right. I'll go find Cloud while you're on the phone." Lazard said, passing it over.

"Hey! Zack Fair, First Class SOLDEIR speaking!" Zack answered happily. Lazard groaned and walked out of the room.

"Uh, I'm sorry. There must be a misunderstanding. I asked to speak to Cloud Strife." the person on the other end said. Zack's eyes widened in happiness. It was a girl!

"Yes! He's my best friend!" Zack said. "Someone's just gone off to look for him though, so I thought I would talk to you so that the wait was more enjoyable."

"He made new friends!" came the squeal through the phone.

"Yep!" Zack grinned. "So, what's your name?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry. Tifa Lockhart." Tifa said. "I'm from Cloud's hometown."

"Awesome!" Zack said. "So are you his girlfriend?" Zack asked, thinking it was a perfectly normal question to ask. Besides, he didn't want to start hitting on his best friends girlfriend!

"Uh.." Tifa was speechless. She was sure her face had gone bright red and she scolded herself for actually wishing she could say yes. "No, he's not. We're just friends." she said.

"Oh! Okay! That's great!" Zack beamed. Cloud walked into the room and paused seeing Zack talking on the phone. "Oh hey, Cloud's here now!" Zack moved the phone slightly away. "Spikey! It's Tifa!" he said. Cloud's eyes widened and he looked around nervously, stepping backwards slowly.

"Is he coming?" Tifa asked.

"Uh, hang on." Zack said, placing the phone down and walking over to his friend. "What's up?" he asked.

"I can't talk to her." Cloud said quickly.

"Why not?" Zack asked.

"I.." Cloud looked away, his stance showing how uncomfortable he was. "I'm busy, tell her I'm busy."

"But you're not. You were just going to go back to your dorm. Hey! You survived the land mines!" Zack punched him on the arm with a grin. Cloud stared at him in disbelief at how gullible he was.

"Whatever, I'm leaving." Cloud said, turning and walking out of the room. Zack sighed and shook his head sadly, walking back over to the phone and picking it up.

"Tifa?" he asked.

"Yes? Is this still Zack?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Zack paused and then sighed again. "Cloud's busy right now." he lied.

"Do you know when he can talk? It's really urgent." Tifa said anxiously.

"Uh," Zack thought desperately for something to say, knowing he didn't want to betray his friends trust but he didn't want to upset this girl either. "I have no idea. Would you be able to call back another day?"

"I don't think so," came the sad reply. "don't worry about it, just tell him I hope to hear from him soon, kay?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll do that. I promise." Zack said, nodding his head even though she couldn't see.

"Right, well, I should go then." Tifa said.

"Okay, bye!" Zack said.

"Bye." Tifa hung up and Zack slower lowered the phone, clicking it off and leaving it on the desk, walking out.

Late night training session, Clouds legs killed from running and he wished he could just flop into bed and sleep the week away. However, he had to report back to the sergeant, put some things back in his locker and then go to the next late night training session.

After reporting back to the sergeant, he headed to the locker room, keeping his head down and going straight to his. Opening it, he stuffed his things in and then shut it, turning to leave when he felt a fist connecting with his head.

"That'll teach you to beat me at the cross country training." he heard someone say. "I guess it's time to put you back in your place again." he felt someone grip his arms tightly and he was shoved into a locker again, the door swung shut and the key turned.

"Oh man, not again." Cloud muttered as he heard everyone leave and carefully felt his nose for a break. Looking down at his hand and holding it in the light that was coming in through the slats, he saw it was covered in blood. He rolled his eyes and sighed, leaning back. "I wonder if Sephiroth will randomly walk into the locker room again. Probably not, it's almost midnight." Cloud thought aloud.

Sephiroth was taking the late night training session. The really late night training session. He was tired, grumpy and just wanted to sleep. But he had to deal with the trainees who were also tired, grumpy and wanting to go to sleep.

"Great." he muttered, walking into the room and standing in front of them all. He began training them, drilling them hard and making sure none of them slacked off even the tiniest little bit. He constantly annoyed them by finding every single thing they were doing wrong and making a big deal about it. What annoyed them even more was that they weren't allowed to talk back as Sephiroth could instantly authorise that anyone leave ShinRa for good.

"What kind of SOLDIER's are you trying to be?" Sephiroth asked angrily. "You are never going to make it if you can't look after the small things first."

"Why do the small things even matter?" someone asked unwisely. Sephiroth slowly walked over to him and looked down, becoming instantly intimidating.

"One small thing that is overlooked could get you killed." he said. "If you don't mind getting killed on your first mission in the first few seconds, then by all means, ignore what I say." The trainee gulped and nodded, looking down. Sephiroth walked away again and everyone continued training.

"Seph, you seen Spikey?" Zack asked as Sephiroth walked out of the training room, finally finished with the late night session. He glanced at Zack with wide eyes.

"What are you doing up?" Sephiroth asked. "The kid's probably asleep like you should be."

"Oh, right. It's just, I've been looking for him for ages cause I wanna talk to him about something. I just wanted to see if he was okay." Zack shrugged.

"Ask him in the morning." Sephiroth said. "Besides, Zack, why are you so obsessed with him?" he asked.

"Because, my friend, he has a female friend who is not his girlfriend. Are you following me?" Zack asked, a grin on his face. Sephiroth groaned and turned to walk away. "Hey, can you hear that?" Zack asked suddenly. Sephiroth paused to listen and there it was. The faint sound of banging. Once about every second.

"That stupid kid." Sephiroth muttered angrily, walking off quickly. Zack raised an eyebrow, smiled, and skipped along behind him.

Soon, they had reached the locker room and the banging had grown louder. Sephiroth went quickly to one locker and smashed the lock. The banging stopped abruptly.

"You seriously need to learn how to look after yourself- uh, oh man. They broke your nose too?" Sephiroth pulled Cloud out roughly with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah." Cloud muttered.

"Oh my gosh! Who did it? I'll bash them up!" Zack said. Cloud looked up, only just noticing him.

"Some of the other trainee's, I think." Sephiroth shrugged. "Look, the kid needs to work things out himself so don't worry about it Zack."

"Okay.. what do we do about his nose?" Zack asked.

"You can't brace noses, they heal by themselves. He can deal with that too." Sephiroth grabbed Zack's arm and dragged him out of there, leaving Cloud behind.

"Great to know I have such loyal friends." Cloud muttered, slowly walking out after them although they had already gone due to Sephiroth's long strides.

The bus that left Nibelheim was the same one that always did. The bus driver was the same guy that was just trying to make some money and most of the passengers were regulars. Except one.

She tucked her brown hair behind her ear, biting her lip nervously and staring out the window with hopeful eyes.

Mr Lockhart wouldn't realise she was gone for a few hours yet.


	8. Chapter 8

"Three absences already, what do you have to say for yourself?" Lazard asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at Cloud over the top of a folder.

"Three?" Cloud asked, frowning.

"Yes, three. Did you lose count?" Lazard asked. Cloud sighed and looked at the floor, feeling his face go red in embarrassment.

"I didn't realise I'd missed that many." he mumbled.

"Speak up, I can hardly hear you." Lazard snapped. "Look, all I want to know is why you've missed your training sessions three times." Cloud didn't say anything and Lazard tapped his foot impatiently.

"Just because." Cloud finally said.

"Look Soldier, if you're not willing to tell me what's going on you won't be able to move through the ranks." Lazard said. "You have to be honest, try your hardest and be loyal."

"Whatever the reason I missed training, I can handle it myself." Cloud said.

"Ah, I see." Lazard said, leaning back slightly and dropping his hand with the folder to his side. "Another thing you need to learn while at ShinRa training to be a SOLDIER, it's perfectly normal and manly to ask for help occasionally."

"Whatever, can I go now?" Cloud asked, looking up again.

"Careful, that kind of attitude could get you kicked out." Lazard warned. "Just one more thing. I've been thinking about assigning you a mentor, a bit like how Angeal was Zack's mentor. Though, everyone knows that did no good. I'll assign someone to be your mentor that might just be able to break you from your shell. All right, now you can go." Lazard turned and sat back down at his desk.

"I don't want to be broken from my shell!" Cloud said, eyes wide.

"Then what are you doing here?" Lazard asked, looking up at Cloud with a serious expression. "You have so much potential, Strife. Why can't you see that? You need to push away your insecurities and work as a team. That's not possible when you're always pushing people away and holding onto your insecurities."

Cloud stared angrily at Lazard before turning and walking out. He didn't want to ask for anyone's help or be forced to work with those other trainees. There was no way they'd all be able to cooperate, what with the number of times they'd bashed him up and shoved him in lockers. But he couldn't tell anyone about that because then they'd call him weak.

"Spikey! Woah, you had to speak to Lazard!" Zack ran up, a cheeky look on his face. "Dude, what did you do?" he asked jokingly.

"Did the insane asylum send you here?" Cloud asked, walking straight past him.

"Uh, not that I know of. I came here of my own will. Because I want to become a hero! Isn't that cool!?" Zack asked, his eyes wide in excitement.

"Totally." Cloud mumbled, still walking away. Zack realised and ran after him.

"Why did you come here?" Zack asked, now walking beside his friend. Cloud didn't reply. He had no idea what he would say. "Spikey?"

"I don't know." Cloud said stiffly.

"Okay." Zack shrugged. "So, have you got a training session now?"

"No." Cloud said.

"Awesome! C'mon, let's go annoy someone!" Zack said, beginning to bounce up and down.

"Just leave me alone! Stop following me, talking to me and trying to befriend me! I've had enough, all right?" Cloud snapped, turning to him with eyes flaring. Zack stopped dead and stared with wounded eyes.

"I was just trying to be your friend." he whimpered.

"I don't _want_ any friends!" Cloud yelled, spinning around and running off.

A girl of about fifteen walked into ShinRa, a nervous look on her face as she walked up to the receptionist desk.

"Excuse me, am I able to visit one of the SOLDIER's in training?" she asked. The receptionist looked up and smiled.

"Of course! Please state your name and the name of who you would like to visit and I'll organise something for as soon as possible." came the reply.

"Thank you. I'm Tifa Lockhart and I'd like to visit Cloud Strife." Tifa said.

"Just a moment." the receptionist said, typing away at the computer quickly. "All right, you can go right in. I'll just call someone to escort you. It wouldn't be nice getting lost in a place like this!" the receptionist laughed, trying to joke.

"Oh, thank you." Tifa said, still incredibly nervous.

Soon enough, Tifa was being led through the halls of ShinRa to find Cloud. Her guide wasn't saying a word and was walking rather quickly; she was finding it a bit hard to keep up.

Eventually, the guide stopped walking and signalled that through the door they were standing in front of was where she would find Cloud, then he turned and walked away. Tifa raised an eyebrow in disbelief and then shrugged, opening the door and walking in.

"Uh, what?" Zack asked, staring at Lazard and blinking in confusion.

"You heard what I said Zack." Lazard said gruffly.

"Yeah but, why me? I mean, you could've picked anyone else, why me? You know Angeal was like my big brother, so why did you choose me for this mission!?" Zack asked angrily.

"Exactly for that reason. I'm sure he wouldn't like to shut you out of everything, so if you're sent he just might hesitate in time for us to catch him." Lazard explained.

"That's not fair." Zack said quietly, glaring at his boss.

"Sephiroth will also be going on this mission along with two trainees." Lazard said, picking up the file and reading from it.

"Which trainees?" Zack asked, trying to lessen his bad mood by changing the subject. Lazard scanned the file.

"Cloud Strife and Peter Reynolds." Lazard read aloud.

"Spikey!?" Zack gasped in disbelief.

"Uh," Lazard looked up at Zack, suddenly very disturbed.

"Cloud's going! That's awesome!" Zack said, grinning. His smile quickly fell however and he looked at the ground. "Or, not so good. He hates me."

"The kid has got to learn to work in a team. This is good practice for him." Lazard said.

"Yeah, I guess." Zack shrugged. "So when do we leave?"

"This afternoon," Lazard said. "Go get ready." Zack nodded, turning around and leaving the room.

"Holy crap, Rude, look at this!" Reno said, eyes fixed to the computer screen as one arm flailed about pathetically trying to get Rude's attention. Rude sighed but walked over to stand beside his partner.

"What?" he asked.

"Look!" Reno repeated. He pointed at the screen where there was a huge block of text. Rude did not feel like reading it all right then. Thankfully, Reno highlighted the important parts.

"Mr and Mrs Strife were sent on a mission." Rude said, his eyes scanning the highlighted text.

"They were investigating Professor Hojo!" Reno said. "Without permission! The old president didn't want them to investigate Hojo 'cause he didn't want Hojo to get mad. But they did it anyway, secretly." Reno explained. Rude frowned slightly.

"I don't like the sound of this." he said.

"The old president hired someone to kill the Strife's." Reno whispered.

"And Rufus Shinra must know." Rude said, nodding.

"Okay, we should leave now." Reno said, slowly closing everything and shutting the computer down, then standing up. Rude nodded and the two of them silently left the room, going to do whatever job they were meant to be doing.

Cloud stayed quiet as he and the other trainee were debriefed by Sephiroth. They were both in their full uniforms, complete with the helmets. It was impossible to tell them apart now.

"So, there you have it." Sephiroth said. Cloud fought the urge to question the general. They were going to Nibelheim!? It wasn't possible. But, it was true. It seemed like the world was against him. What would Tifa say? He hadn't written any letters and hadn't taken the call. She probably hated him now.

The door opened and Lazard walked in, a clipboard tucked under one arm. He was leading behind him a nervous looking girl.

"Sephiroth, I found someone to be your guide." Lazard said. "This is Tifa Lockhart. Nibelheim is her home town so I figured she would be useful. She came here looking for someone but agrees this would be a better way to spend her time." Sephiroth nodded.

"Is she aware of the dangers?" Sephiroth asked. Lazard narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

"There are no dangers. Do you remember which mission this is, Sephiroth?" he asked in a tone that said he was not to be argued with.

"Of course. My apologies for the mistake." Sephiroth said. Tifa seemed to relax slightly.

"Good. Well, you should be on your way." Lazard turned and walked out of the room. Cloud Strife stared at Tifa from behind his helmet and struggled not to move away or hide his head. He couldn't believe it. She was right there and would be their guide in Nibelheim. Unable to fight it, Cloud ducked his head. His face was on fire and he just _knew_ he was bright red.

"Welcome to the team!" Zack said happily. "Wow, you're prettier than I imagined." Tifa blushed slightly and gave a small grin.

"Thanks." she said.

"You know her?" Sephiroth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! She's Cloud's friend." Zack said, looking over at the two trainees and sighing. Even he couldn't tell which one was Cloud.

"When are we leaving?" Tifa asked quietly.

"Right now." Sephiroth said. Tifa nodded and looked over at the two trainees, wondering why one of them was looking away with his head down.

"Well, come on!" Zack said eagerly. Sephiroth nodded and walked out of the room. Everyone quickly followed, and Tifa looked around in excitement as they stepped onto a private jet.

"This is how we're travelling?" she asked, shocked.

"No, sorry." Zack laughed. "Seph's just getting something. And if I leave him alone he'll get lost, the big pushover."

"Oh." Tifa said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Um, Zack?"

"Yeah?" he turned back to face her.

"Do you know where Cloud is?" she asked. "I know it's not really the time to ask, but I was just wondering. I've been looking for him for ages." Zack nodded in understanding and a small grin appeared on his face. He glanced over at the two trainees, and saw one of them glaring at him. Ah-ha! He had now located Cloud.

"Well you see-"

"All right, let's go." Sephiroth reappeared and Zack groaned.

"Sorry." he muttered to Tifa.

"No, don't worry about it." she said, shaking her head. Zack shrugged and walked out after Sephiroth, allowing Tifa to drop back and walk with the trainees.


	9. Chapter 9

"We've been hit! Repeat, the engines have been hit!" the voice crackled over the loudspeaker as the standard military helicopter began tipping to the side. Tifa clung to Zack, fear in her eyes. Cloud was holding onto one of the safety rails, staring at Tifa and wishing she would cling to him.

"Well kids, this is our stop!" Sephiroth said, standing up.

"What? You're crazy!" Tifa objected. "Why are we being shot at anyway? You said there were no dangers!"

"Sorry." Zack said, standing up. Tifa let go of him and stared, a questioning look appearing in her eyes.

"We're going to have to jump." Sephiroth said, pulling out some parachutes.

"What about the pilot?" Tifa asked, glancing towards the cockpit.

"As soon as we jump he'll be safe. They're shooting at us, not him." Zack said, already strapping his parachute on.

"Why are they shooting at us?" Tifa almost screamed. She was fighting tears and they could all tell.

"Look, we'll answer your questions once we've landed," Zack said. "Come here." he reached out to her and pulled her close, wrapping her arms around his waist and going over to the side door, opening it. Wind rushed in and swirled around the cabin.

"You're joking.." Tifa whispered, looking out at the height they were about to drop. A few gunshots were heard and Zack gritted his teeth.

"Hold on!" he said, and jumped. Sephiroth shoved the trainees forward as they had each been equipped with their own parachutes and they each jumped, leaving Sephiroth to bring up the rear.

As soon as they touched the ground, Zack whipped off the parachute and grabbed Tifa's hand, running. She could hear the spray of bullets behind them digging up the ground and had to fight to stop herself from trembling too much in case she stumbled and fell.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before everyone was behind some large boulders sheltered by long vines.

"This is insane, I never should have agreed." Tifa mumbled to herself. "Is this the kind of stuff Cloud will have to do?" she asked, fear in her eyes as she thought of her childhood friend.

"Uh, you could say that." Zack said, a slight glint in his eyes. "In fact, you could say it's almost identical to what Cloud has to do." he chuckled.

"It's not funny, Zack." Tifa said. "As soon as I find him I'm going to tell him to come home. He doesn't belong here with people like you!" she argued.

"Why not?" Zack asked curiously.

"Because! You're all so tough!" Tifa said. "Cloud couldn't even stand up to the kids back in Nibelhiem, how is he supposed to be a SOLDIER?" she felt tears beginning to slip from her eyes and wiped the back of her hand over them.

"What kids in Nibelhiem? Was Cloud teased?" Zack asked, knowing full well that he probably shouldn't have been asking Tifa when Cloud himself was right there. Though he figured if Cloud had a big problem with him talking about this, he'd say something himself.

"All the time." Tifa mumbled. "Everyone else hated him. I don't know why, because he's such a great guy! But I guess they had their reasons."

"I can't believe anyone would be able to hate Cloud." Zack said quietly.

"Yeah well, they managed to find things they didn't like about him. They told me they hated how he always tried to prove himself because he just kept showing how stupid he was. But I don't think that!" Tifa folded her arms, looking down at the ground. "I don't think he should try and prove himself, because I like him as he is."

"Wow, you two should totally get together." Zack said, staring at her.

"What!?" Tifa yelled, looking up at Zack with wide eyes. She had spoken so loudly that she hadn't heard the small squeak from one of the trainee's. Zack laughed and shook his head.

"You're so amusing." he said.

"Come on, we should keep moving." Sephiroth said. They headed off again, and after a while Cloud realised that Peter kept glancing over at him with a smirk on his face. Obviously he had clued in.

"Hey, Tifa is it?" Peter asked. Tifa glanced back and nodded. "Did you know that-" Peter gasped and fell to his knees, eyes bulging. Cloud kept walking, acting as if he hadn't just whacked a fellow trainee in the stomach.

"Watch it, Strife." Sephiroth said angrily. "I could get you kicked out for that." Tifa had stopped walking and was staring at Cloud. Sephiroth had called him Strife. She couldn't believe it. There was absolutely no possible way.

"Cloud?" she asked, putting a hand to her mouth.

"Yeah, I guess you finally noticed." he grunted, slowly pulling off his helmet.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Tifa screamed, narrowing her eyes as she took a rushed step closer to him. "You never wrote! And you didn't answer my call!"

"I was busy!" Cloud snapped.

"Stop lying to me! You know I've always been able to tell when you lie to me!" Tifa yelled angrily. "I've had enough of you! If you don't like me so much why don't you just tell me?" To conclude her outburst, her arm shot out and connected with his nose. He stumbled back, falling to the ground.

"Not again!" he yelled, grabbing his nose and tilting his head back to try and ease the blood flow.

"That wasn't very smart." Sephiroth said. "However, it was a good punch."

"What's he mean, again?" Tifa asked, panting slightly from the sudden exertion of energy.

"Some of the other trainees broke his nose the other day when they shoved him in the locker." Zack said, shrugging.

"They shoved him in a locker?" Tifa asked, disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah, looks like I really am the loser everyone says I am." Cloud said, pushing himself up again.

"I didn't say that!" Tifa objected.

"Look it doesn't matter, we need to keep going or we're going to get shot at again." Cloud snapped, spinning around and walking ahead. Tifa folded her arms, a bit upset but also slightly annoyed. The group continued on.

Nibelheim was quiet. Cloud could tell instantly that something was wrong from that information only. Sephiroth didn't hesitate, entering the small town instantly and glancing around. Zack was following close behind him.

"Something's wrong." Tifa said, narrowing her eyes as she tried to figure out what it was. Sephiroth and Zack stopped and turned back to her.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

"It's quiet." Cloud said.

"Yeah, it's not usually this quiet." Tifa agreed. "What's this mission for anyway?" Sephiroth sighed, folding his arms and remaining silent.

"I'm so glad you could make it." The five of them spun around and stared at where Genesis was standing, his black wing outstretched. "I was hoping that Sephiroth, at least, would get here." he continued.

"What do you want, Genesis?" Sephiroth asked.

"But Sephiroth, weren't you looking for me?" Genesis asked, chuckling. "I would like your help Sephiroth, but I have no need for the others."

"He's not going to help you!" Zack said angrily. Genesis turned to him with an amused smile.

"You're not still upset that Angeal betrayed you, are you?" he asked tauntingly. Zack didn't reply, but stood there glaring. "Sephiroth, old friend, come join me."

"I'm sorry, I won't do that." Sephiroth said.

"Oh? That's too bad." Genesis shrugged, lifting up a hand casually and looking at it as if he was studying his palm. A small glowing orb appeared and he glanced up. "I'm getting bored, so now I'm going to amuse myself."

The next few moments went so fast it was almost impossible to tell what happened. Though somehow, Cloud reacted in a split second and yelled out, shoving Tifa roughly with both hands so that she stumbled sideways and fell to the ground, grazing her knees. The blast from the glowing orb that Genesis had thrown hit him square in the chest and he flew backwards, slamming back onto the ground and lying still.

"Cloud!" Tifa screamed, pulling herself to her feet and running over to him.

"Hmm, this is more interesting than it would have been if I simply hit the girl." Genesis said.

"What was that for?" Zack shouted. Peter Reynolds was standing slightly to the side, shocked at what had just happened. Then he acted, trying to show that he was good for SOLDIER. He ran at Genesis, raising his sword and letting out a battle cry.


	10. Chapter 10

Every blow was deflected like it was childs play. Genesis smirked as Peter backed away to catch his breath.

"Cloud, say something!" Tifa begged, still trying to wake him up.

"Now, Sephiroth. Will you agree or am I going to have to find another way to amuse myself?" Genesis asked. Sephiroth glared at Genesis angrily.

"I will never join you, Genesis." he snarled.

"That's a shame." Genesis said, raising his hand again. "What shall I do now?" he asked mockingly.

"What is the point of betraying ShinRa?" Sephiroth asked quickly, trying to distract Genesis before someone else got hurt.

"My dear friend, don't you see? But of course, you were loved by the Goddess and shared none of her blessings. Even as heroes the world hates." Genesis sighed and lowered his head.

"Darn, here I was thinking we'd get away with no quotes of that stupid thing." Zack muttered in annoyance.

"This is all about The Goddess, isn't it?" Sephiroth asked. Genesis looked up again, a smile on his face.

"Yes, it is indeed." he confirmed. "Don't you understand? We must hold onto her while we can! Besides, she is the only one who could love such monsters as us." the smile disappeared from his face and a haunted look replaced it.

"What do you mean, monsters?" Sephiroth asked.

"Us!" Genesis said. "We are monsters, created by ShinRa." Something in Sephiroth triggered and he lunged at Genesis, the sound of swords clanging filling the air.

Zack didn't exactly know what to do. He knew this fight was for Sephiroth, but he didn't know whether he should leave to try and find Angeal or not. He looked over at where Tifa was still leaning over Cloud, now crying. Peter was watching the fight in amazement at how skilled they were.

A blast was heard and Zack's eyes widened as he saw a ball of fire being thrown from Genesis' hand towards Sephiroth. But Sephiroth leapt out of the way quickly, safe from harm.

Then Zack realised that Genesis actually had a plan as he saw the fireball connect with a building and engulf it in seconds.

"Sephiroth! You have to stop fighting!" Zack yelled. He was ignored however, and caught a glimpse of the anger on Sephiroth's face. There was no way he'd be able to persuade him to stop at this rate.

Another fireball was thrown, and another building went up in flames. Zack knew he had to do something, so in an instant he was running, desperately searching for Angeal - their last hope.

Zack raced inside the small cottage and his eyes widened in shock at what he saw. Angeal was sitting in the middle of the room on a simple wooden chair. There were ropes binding his arms and legs and a gag was wrapped around his mouth. He saw Zack and his eyes widened.

"Angeal! What happened?" Zack asked, running forward and immediately beginning to untie the ropes and the gag.

"Genesis, he's gone mad!" Angeal said once the gag was off.

"I know! He's gotten Sephiroth really angry and they're fighting like there's no tomorrow!" Zack replied.

"There might not be if we don't stop them." Angeal said, standing up and hurrying out the door. Zack followed quickly, not wanting to be left behind.

"We've got a girl with us as well." Zack told Angeal as they made their way towards the sounds of the fight.

"A girl? Who's idea was that?" Angeal spat.

"Lazard's. The girl's name is Tifa and she's a friend of Cloud. She was put on our team because she knows Nibelheim and was going to be our guide." Zack replied.

"Is she trained at all?" Angeal questioned.

"No." Zack shook his head.

"Then she shouldn't be on the team." Angeal said. They rounded a corner and the fight was suddenly visible. Genesis was smirking and threw yet another fireball.

"Zack, get back." Angeal said, bringing an arm up to stop Zack from running forward.

"I want to help!" Zack whined.

"I'm sorry, you can't." Angeal said. Taking a deep breath, he ran towards his two friends with his sword raised, letting out a battle cry.

Cloud slowly opened his eyes and looked around, wincing as a pain shot through his head.

"Cloud!" Tifa's eyes widened and she smiled slightly. "Are you okay? How do you feel?" she asked quickly.

"Tifa," he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked over at her, concern in his eyes. "Are you hurt?" Tifa stared at him, unable to grasp why he would ask such a thing when he had just been unconscious.

"I'm fine. But Cloud, you're the one that was hit!" Tifa said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Don't worry about me." Cloud mumbled, then turned to see how the fight was progressing. "I have to help them." he said, standing up. Tifa hurriedly stood up beside him and nodded.

"Me too." she said.

"No! Tifa, I don't want you to get hurt." he said firmly.

"Hey, I'm not letting you fight without me by your side!" Tifa said. "Besides, I can look after myself."

"Oh sure, like you did on the bridge those years ago." Cloud hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but somehow the words had come out of his mouth before he could stop them. Tifa froze and stared at him.

"Cloud.." she said quietly. "Is that what you really think? I was just a burden that kept getting into trouble and you had to keep helping?"

"Tifa, I didn't mean-"

"Stop it! I finally understand, okay? You've never liked me. That's why you never wrote and you never took my calls. Maybe that's even why you left in the first place; just to get away from me." Tifa took a step away from him, a tear slipping down her face.

"That's not true!" Cloud snapped. "I left because I wanted to prove to you that I was stronger than those idiots who you befriended! I never wrote to you because I didn't want to have to tell you that I was only a grunt! And I didn't take your call for the same reason. Tifa, you never listen to my explanations and I'm sick of it."

"You.. wanted to prove yourself?" Tifa asked quietly.

"Yeah. No doubt your 'friends' filled your head with crap about me." Cloud said angrily.

"Cloud-"

"I'm over it. I'm over everything." Cloud shrugged. "I want to become a SOLDIER and I think the thoughts of you were holding me back." Tifa couldn't speak. He had just admitted to wanting to prove himself to her, and now he was saying she was holding him back?

"Cloud! Watch out!" Zack yelled desperately. Cloud looked up and in an instant he had grabbed Tifa and dragged her out of the way as another fireball went hurtling past.

"Come on, we can't just stand around talking all day." Cloud said, letting go of Tifa's arm and heading over to Zack to see what he could do.

Tifa slowly wrapped her arms around herself, crying freely. She loved Cloud. How could he say that she was holding him back from becoming a SOLDIER? Was SOLDIER that much more important to him than she was?

A scream was heard and Tifa turned to see a house that was on fire. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she saw through a window a little boy trapped behind the flames.

In an instant she was running towards the house, uncaring about the fact that her idea so far only consisted of leaping straight into the fire. She didn't know how, but she knew she was going to get that little boy out of the house even if it was the death of her.

The boy screamed again, and because Tifa was closer she could hear his sobs. She ran the last stretch of ground and jumped straight through the low window, landing with a crash on the wooden floor.

She couldn't breathe, and she couldn't see. Coughing, she scrambled away from the flames and reached a hand out, searching for the boy.

"I'm here to help!" she managed to choke out.

"I want mummy!" the boy cried. Tifa managed to wipe the smoke out of her eyes and found the boy, pulling him close to her and making a silent promise to herself that she would not let him die.

"Come on, I'm going to get you out of here." Tifa said, trying to shield his tiny body from the heat of the fire.

"I want mummy!" he cried again, his small hands grabbing fistfuls of her hair.

Tifa turned to see if there was another way out other than the window, but the door was completely on fire. She turned back to the window and took a deep breath. She wasn't sure whether she could do it or not.

"Tifa!" She heard someone yell her name and glanced around, suddenly realising she was possibly as scared as the boy. "Tifa!" the voice yelled again, and suddenly there was a blast of cold wind and - water?

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, eyes wide in disbelief as she saw Cloud standing on the opposite side of the window with an empty bucket in his hand.

"Come on!" he shouted, gesturing with one hand. She nodded slowly and stepped towards the window again. Cloud dropped the bucket and walked forward, carefully taking the boy from her so that she could climb out easily.

Soon she was on solid ground again and she turned to look back at the house. Her breath caught in her throat. If she had waited any longer they wouldn't have been able to get out. The fire had spread onto the window again.

"I want mummy!" the little boy was sobbing and Cloud glanced over at Tifa, an obvious look of 'help' in his eyes. She walked over and took the boy back into her arms, beginning to walk slowly around the house they had just escaped from.

"Was mummy inside?" Tifa asked quietly. The boy turned to look at the burning house and his bottom lip quivered. He slowly nodded his head and Tifa fought back tears.

"Look after him." Tifa turned to see Cloud and frowned slightly, before widening her eyes in shock as he walked right up to the front door. "I'm going to find his mother."

"Cloud!" He paused and turned to face Tifa. "Be careful." she said quietly.

"I promise." he said, smiling and turning to walk into the house.


	11. Chapter 11

"She was in the kitchen. Smart woman had the tap running and was attempting to get up to her little boy but collapsed from inhaling too much smoke. I got to her as she was trying to crawl up the stairs." Cloud explained to Tifa quickly.

"Cloud, I'm sorry for what I said." Tifa said, tearing her eyes away from the mother and son that had just been reunited. "It's just, I need to tell you something. Maybe it'll help you understand why I've been so short-tempered, maybe it won't."

"What is it?" Cloud asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I just-" Tifa looked at the ground, allowing some of her hair to fall in front of her eyes. Her cheeks were tinted red with embarrassment and Cloud didn't know whether she was going to keep talking or not. "I've liked you ever since we were kids. I don't know, maybe I even love you!" the words became choked and Cloud could tell she had started crying again.

"Tifa, I-"

"It's okay." Tifa put a hand on Cloud's shoulder, slowly looking up at him. "I know you don't like me like that. I mean, it's obvious simply from the way you act. I'm silly to think you'll like me."

"That's not true." Cloud said firmly.

"Yes it is Cloud! I'm just a stupid girl hung up on a childhood crush!"

"No, Tifa. You don't understand!" Cloud grabbed her wrist as she turned to walk away, trying to catch her attention again. She turned her head to him and flashed a smile through the tears.

"I'm fine just being your friend. Besides, I want you to be able to become a SOLDIER. It's what you want, right?" Tifa slowly pulled her wrist from Cloud's grip and walked over to the mother and son, offering them her help.

There was a blast off to the side and Cloud turned to see the fight getting even more out of control than it was before. He looked back at where Tifa was smiling warmly and talking to the woman he had just saved. How could he prove it to her?

"The truth is here, in Nibelheim!" Genesis was saying to Sephiroth. "I'll show you if you like." he smirked, throwing another fireball.

"Then show me." Sephiroth said simply, easily dodging the attack.

"Don't listen to him!" Angeal urged. There was desperation in his voice and on his face as he looked over at Sephiroth.

"You were working with him before, why have you suddenly changed your mind?" Sephiroth asked angrily, looking over at him.

"I didn't entirely understand his plans!" Angeal said. "But now that I do, please believe me! He has nothing of interest to show you!"

"Too bad. Because now I'm interested." Sephiroth said, narrowing his eyes.

"Good, then follow me." Genesis said, dropping his arms to his sides with a smirk still on his face. He turned and walked away, straight into the midst of all the burning buildings. Sephiroth glanced at Angeal with a glare and followed after the redhead.

"No!" Zack yelled, running in front of Sephiroth and glaring at him with a stubborn expression.

"Out of my way." Sephiroth said.

"This isn't going to help anything!" Zack persisted.

"I want to know what it is that has made Genesis like this. If you think of any better plans, get back to me." Sephiroth shoved past Zack, continuing to walk after his friend.

"Zack, leave him." Angeal said.

"What do you know about this!?" Zack yelled, running back to the older man and grabbing him by the collar angrily. "What's Genesis going to show Sephiroth?"

"You shouldn't involve yourself in these matters." Angeal said.

"I was sent on the mission! I deserve to know!" Zack shoved Angeal roughly but didn't release his grip.

"He's going to show him the monsters." Angeal said quietly.

"But Genesis said we _are_ the monsters." Zack let go and stepped back, confused.

"There's a lot more to it than I can explain, I'm sorry." Angeal said. "But Genesis is angry at ShinRa for making us into monsters."

"I still don't get it. Why are we monsters?" Zack asked.

"I am more of a monster than you." Angeal said quietly, turning his head away.

"But why!?" Zack asked in annoyance. Angeal slowly looked up at him and then sighed, looking down again.

"I supposed you would've found out sooner or later." he shrugged. Taking a deep breath, Angeal braced himself. Zack stared in disbelief as a white wing stretched out from his mentor's back.

"It's-" Zack fought for words to say. "Just like Genesis!" he now remembered having seen the wing on Genesis' back when they had first arrived.

"Yes, which is why we are monsters."

"But, Angeal! How?"

"ShinRa." came Angeal's short response. "That's why Genesis hates ShinRa." Zack frowned, trying to comprehend all of this information.

"So, why does Genesis want to show Sephiroth the other 'monster's or whatever?" Zack asked.

"He wants to prove to Sephiroth that he too is a monster." Angeal said.

"Is that it?" Zack asked, slightly shocked.

"There's something else.." Angeal trailed off.

"Tell me!" Zack persisted. Angeal shook his head firmly, turning to walk away. "Where are you going? We have to stop them!"

"I've done all I can do." Angeal said. With a small leap, he was in the air and flying away. Zack stared in awe for a moment before turning back to the burning village of Nibelheim.

"Cloud! Look after Tifa, I'm going after Sephiroth!" Zack called as he started running past.

"No! Zack, I'm coming with you!" Cloud argued, running up to him and Zack stopped and turned around.

"I don't want you getting hurt Spikey." Zack said.

"I've already gotten hurt Zack!" Cloud snapped. "Let me help."

"But this is the work of a SOLDIER!" Zack retorted.

"I don't care! I want to be a SOLDIER too!" Zack sighed and shook his head slightly as if defeated.

"Cloud, you're only a grunt-" There was a scream and the two friends looked over to see Tifa sprinting off through the flames.

"Tifa.." Cloud murmured.

"Your girl needs a prince right now." Zack said. "I can handle Genesis and Sephiroth."

"But I want to help!" Cloud turned back to Zack, a pleading look in his eyes.

"You can! By looking after Tifa." Zack said. "I'm going after Sephiroth, you should go after Tifa." Zack gave Cloud a half smile and turned, running off the same way Sephiroth and Genesis had gone before.

With a resigned sigh, Cloud headed off the way he'd seen Tifa running. He wondered whether he was going to have to rescue her from another burning building or something. There was the sound of splintering wood above him and he shook his head briefly before rolling out of the way for part of a house to crash down onto the ground.

Skirting around some more flames, he saw two men beside a safe building. One of them appeared to be dead and Cloud's shoulders drooped slightly.

"Excuse me," Cloud walked over to them. "Have you seen a girl with long brown hair come by here?" he asked. The man looked up at him and he nodded his head vigorously.

"She's gone up to Mount Nibel looking for her father! Please find her and bring her back, Sephiroth's up there!" the man pleaded desperately. Cloud's eyes widened and he felt his heart skip a beat. Without bothering to give the man an answer, he was running as fast as he could towards Mount Nibel. If she stumbled upon Sephiroth and Genesis, she would probably be killed by the latter.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled out as he ran.

Zack bent down over Tifa, concern in his eyes. She was sobbing into her arms and her entire body was shaking.

"Tifa-"

"I hate you!" she yelled, stopping him from saying anything else. "I hate all of you!" she continued sobbing, turning her face away from him.

Slowly standing up again, Zack took a deep breath. He looked over his shoulder, hoping that Cloud would come soon, and continued to walk forward to find Sephiroth and Genesis. He walked up to a large door and paused, about to go in when he heard a crash. He stepped back and stared upwards, seeing a figure with a wing flying away from the building.

"Genesis!" Zack yelled, but to no avail. Of course he wouldn't have heard him. Turning his attention back to the door in front of him, he opened it and walked in.


	12. Chapter 12

"Mother.. I understand now, mother." Zack raised an eyebrow, slowly walking closer to where Sephiroth was standing. "Genesis explained everything to me, I understand now."

"Sephiroth!" Zack called.

"Mother, I need your help." Sephiroth continued murmuring. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, but I know you'll tell me."

"Sephiroth, listen to me!" Zack walked closer, wondering who his friend was talking to.

"Just leave." Sephiroth said, turning his head to look over his shoulder slightly. "You can't do anything here."

"What's going on?" Zack asked.

"I've found her, my mother. I'm going to help her rule the planet." Sephiroth smirked, slowly tracing a finger down the glass of the capsule that was in front of him.

"What did Genesis say to you?" Zack asked.

"He told me who I am and what ShinRa did; what the people did."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to defeat them. Everyone. I'm going to rule the world with mother and you can't stand in my way." Sephiroth slowly turned around to face Zack.

"I'm trying to help! Genesis has polluted your mind, Sephiroth." Zack said.

"You're wrong." Sephiroth pulled his sword out and examined it for a moment before looking at Zack with a smile. "That annoying girl came in here before, trying to make Genesis leave me alone. I dealt with her."

"What, you!?" Zack's eyes widened in shock.

"Yes. I just want to be with mother." Sephiroth glanced lovingly over his shoulder at the glass capsule and then turned back to Zack.

"You've gone mad!" Zack yelled.

"Perhaps." Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and charged. Zack stepped back, startled, before lunging forward to meet the attack head-on. Their swords met and Zack was swiped aside like a bug.

"Stop it Sephiroth!" Zack said, pulling himself up again. "You're supposed to be a hero!"

"I am my mother's hero, and that is all I need." Sephiroth said, coming in for another attack.

"I want to be a hero!" Zack exclaimed, his eyes flaring with anger as he leapt towards Sephiroth.

"You have will power. That will get you far in SOLDIER." Sephiroth said tauntingly. "But to become a real hero requires much more than that." Sephiroth struck Zack on the shoulder and sent him sprawling.

"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Zack asked, struggling to pull himself up.

"The people on this planet are nuisances. Mother and I will destroy them all." Sephiroth explained.

"You're not making any sense!" Zack leapt to his feet with a sudden burst of energy, nicking Sephiroth on the arm with his sword before being hit in the side and thrown across the room, out the door and down some carefully placed stairs. He lay still.

Sephiroth turned and walked back to the glass capsule, a smile on his face.

Cloud ran over to Tifa and knelt beside her, gently lifting her head in his hands. His eyes were wide as he looked down at her.

"Tifa?"

"Cloud.. my father's.." Tifa scrunched her eyes up tight and sobbed. "He's dead!"

"Tifa, I'm so sorry." Cloud said.

"Sephiroth, he.. he did this." Tifa's eyes relaxed but remained closed and she became limp in his hands. The soft sound of her breathing reached his ears and he gently laid her head back down.

"Cloud-" a wince followed the word and Cloud stood up, looking over at the stairs to see Zack. "Sephiroth's gone mad."

"I'll see what I can do." Cloud said, stepping over Tifa and around Zack to walk up the stairs. He gulped, hoping he'd be able to do something to help.

"Mother.." Sephiroth whispered, once again stroking the glass. "I'll kill them all once I get out of here." Cloud narrowed his eyes and glanced around, picking up Zack's sword that he saw had been discarded to the side. Taking a deep breath, he began to run.

In a split second he changed his mind but there was no time to stop and the sword he was holding ran straight through Sephiroth and into the glass capsule beyond. There was a crack and Cloud panted slowly.

"Who- who are you?" Sephiroth asked, slumped slightly. Cloud tightened his grip on the sword, refusing to answer. If Sephiroth knew who it was he would know he could easily fling him aside. With a sharp intake of air, Cloud twisted the sword slightly. Sephiroth gasped and gripped the glass in front of him.

"What's wrong with you!?" Cloud couldn't help the words coming out of his mouth. "Genesis lied to you about everything! Why did you hurt Tifa? Why did you allow Genesis to burn Nibelheim to the ground?"

Sephiroth reached a hand behind himself and pulled the sword out. Cloud took hurried steps backwards as his victim turned around.

"Cloud Strife." Sephiroth said coldly. "I remember why you look familiar. Back when I was just a boy, I knew your mother."

"You're lying!" Cloud yelled. "You're just stalling for time because you don't want to die!" Sephiroth laughed.

"Your mother had the same blonde hair. She and your father were both Turks." Sephiroth continued. "That's why you were familiar to me."

"Shut up Sephiroth! You know nothing about my parents!"

"You disgust me. Why they let you into SOLDIER I have no clue, but this is where it ends." Sephiroth stood there, very still for a moment and Cloud wondered if he had in fact frozen solid. But in a quick movement he struck, stabbing his sword right through Cloud's middle and lifting him off the ground.

Cloud let go of Zack's sword and it clanged onto the ground. He gasped for air, his feet kicking desperately. He could feel a sticky liquid trailing down his body from where the sword was and tried not to look at it. He felt extremely tired, and the pain! The pain was unbearable. He raised his eyes slowly to see Sephiroth standing there with a smirk on his face.

"No.. you can't.. win!" Cloud brought his hands up to grab the sword and steadied himself for a moment, just breathing. Then he pulled. He could feel the sword slicing through him as he dragged himself up it. And then he felt his feet on the ground.

"What the-" Sephiroth's eyes had widened in shock. Cloud struggled to keep a hold of the sword and took a stumbled step forward. Clenching his teeth, he lifted Sephiroth off the ground and threw him sideways, a yell escaping his mouth to accompany the movement.

A loud crash sounded in the entire place and Cloud looked over at Sephiroth with bleary eyes. The older man had slammed right into the glass capsule and it had broken around him. For a moment, Cloud thought he was dead.

"Mother.." came the whisper. Sephiroth dragged himself up, limping as he did so, and reached into the now broken capsule. He placed both his hands on either side of the now visible woman's head and pulled. "Come, mother. Tell me.. what I must do." The head came free and Sephiroth stumbled sideways, heading for the edge of the platform.

"Seph.. iroth.." Cloud mumbled, watching as the one he used to admire threw himself off the platform and plummeted down with a woman's head in his hands.

Stumbling back the way he'd come, Cloud could feel his life slipping away. He tripped up a couple of times while walking down the stairs but managed to stay standing. At the bottom he immediately headed over to where he had left Tifa.

"Tifa?" his eyes went wide in horror. "Tifa!" She wasn't there. A wave of nausea came over him and he stumbled to his knees, one hand on the ground and one gently holding the sword which was still through him.

"Cloud.. good job." he heard the faint sound of Zack's voice before collapsing onto his side and losing consciousness.

He could hear footsteps, the clomping of boots on the ground getting closer. He couldn't remember what had happened; why he was finding it hard to breathe.

"Is he going to be okay?" He knew that voice. It was Tifa!

"Yes, he'll be fine. Run along now." Cloud's eyebrows subconsciously furrowed as he tried to figure out whether he knew the second voice or not. Whoever it was, he made a mental note to talk to them later if he knew them about how annoying their voice sounded.

Cloud heard softer footsteps walking away until they were out of ear-shot and knew Tifa had left. He tried to sit up but didn't manage to move an inch.

"Hmm, yes," The annoying voice was back. "Very, very interesting."

"Sir?"

"This one will be perfect as my new sample. What did you say his name was?"

"Cloud Strife, Sir."

"Strife!?"

"Yes, Strife."

"Ah, wonderful." Cloud fought against the wave of tiredness that was slowly engulfing him, desperate to hear more that was said.

"Hojo," the person now speaking sounded weak, and Cloud recognised it to be Zack. "You sleaze!" There was a laugh from the person with the annoying voice, Hojo, and Cloud felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Now, now. Is that how you should talk to the scientist who controls your mako dosages?" Hojo laughed again, and it was this that accompanied Cloud into the darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

"Get your butt over here! I'm trying to talk to you!" Zack yelled, slamming his hands against the glass that kept him captive. Professor Hojo ignored him, tapping away at his computer as if nothing was wrong.

Zack looked over at the capsule beside his where Cloud was. Although he was standing upright, he was unconscious. With a sigh, Zack turned back to look over at Hojo again.

"Get us out of here!" Zack yelled. Hojo stood up and headed for the door. "Hey! Are you listening?" The door opened and closed and Zack stepped back slightly in the capsule, the shock of being left alone in Hojo's lab settling in. Would they ever get out, or would Hojo leave them there forever?

Zack slammed against the capsule again, yelling aloud. Time and time again his fists hit the glass. It was hard, as his body was also weighed down from the mako that surrounded him, but he didn't stop.

"Doesn't anyone know we're down here!?" Zack shouted, continuing to pound the glass. He was quickly weakening and could feel it. His fist came towards the glass again and he paused, before taking a deep breath filled with mako and bringing his fist back before colliding it with the glass for the last time.

There was a split-second delay before the glass broke. The capsule de-pressurised and the mako rushed for the exit, pulling Zack with it forcefully. He was thrown onto the floor, mako sloshing around him.

"Hey!" the door swung open and a ShinRa guard entered, searching for the cause of the disruption. His eyes landed on Zack and widened in shock. "What the-"

Zack slowly pushed himself up, his legs slightly wobbly now that they didn't have mako all around to support them. He looked up at the guard and narrowed his eyes.

"Uh, excuse me, y-you need to.." the guard stumbled over his words, glancing between Zack and the capsule he had just broken out of.

"What? You want me to get back in?" Zack spat. "Sorry buddy, but I don't think so." Being careful not to injure the man, Zack knocked him out. Hurrying over to Cloud's capsule, he pulled the lever that was on the outside. The mako drained out and then it slid open. Cloud's unconscious body fell forwards and Zack quickly moved forwards to catch him.

"Come on, we're gonna make it." Zack mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Rufus Shinra asked, spinning in his chair to face the person that was speaking.

"It's just a few extra tests that I want to do," Hojo repeated. "With the right amount of-"

"No, I mean, who did you say you wanted to use as a test subject?" Rufus corrected.

"Ah, Cloud Strife." Hojo said.

Reno and Rude were standing at the side of the room and exchanged a worried glance. Did Hojo know that Cloud's parents had been investigating him?

"The trainee?" Rufus asked.

"Yes." Hojo nodded his head. Rufus sat in his chair, thinking it over for a minute.

"He's not even a SOLDIER." Rufus said thoughtfully. "Why do you want to do tests on him?"

"Sir, he has already proven to be remarkable. He survived the poison of the beast in the forest; such an accomplishment!" Hojo said excitedly.

"Yes he did," Rufus nodded. "But are you sure he'd be able to withstand the sorts of things you're planning on doing?"

"If you don't mind me saying, Sir, there's only one way to find out." Hojo replied.

"Yes, you're correct I suppose. Well then, you have my-" An alarm sounded throughout the building and Rufus' eyes went wide and he stood up. "Reno, Rude! Find out what's going on immediately!" Rufus shouted at the two. With quick nods of the head, the Turks left and hurried to find out what was going on.

"Uh, Sir? May I do the experiments?" Hojo questioned.

Ignoring the question, Rufus turned to him. "Get out there and see what you can do. I want you also to report back to me on what's happening."

Hojo stared at his superior and a slight look of disgust crossed his face before he inclined his head and walked out stiffly.

The alarm continued sounding and Rufus sat down again, confident that everything would be all right now that he had sent three people to find out what was going on and everyone else in the building was scrambling around frantically also.

The first person to get information to Rufus, however, was the head of the SOLDIER division, Lazard.

"Sir, a SOLDIER and a trainee have escaped the scientific labs." Lazard explained, slightly out of breath.

"What?" Rufus asked.

"They've already left the building, though we did manage to communicate with them for a moment."

"And?"

"They've said they don't want to come back, Sir."

"Why don't they want to come back?"

Lazard sighed, "They said they didn't want to be used in a, 'mad scientist's crazy experiment', as they put it." he quoted. There were rushed footsteps coming down the hall and Hojo appeared around the door frame. Lazard stepped back slightly.

"Sir! My.. my lab!" Hojo stuttered.

"Let me guess, you're missing something?" Rufus asked, one eyebrow raised.

"N-no.. my lab.. they've destroyed it!" Hojo had gone into hysterics, tears welling up in his face as he struggled to contain his distress.

"What do you mean?" Rufus asked.

"Cloud Strife and Zack Fair have ruined my lab! They've broken everything!" Hojo yelled. "I bet Strife was the one that suggested it!" he fought the urge to throw something, beginning to shake from the shock of what had happened.

"Please, calm down." Rufus said. "I'm sure everything can be replaced."

"No! It can't! All my experiments, all the data, it's all _gone_!" he shouted. Lazard glanced at Hojo and then over at where Rufus had an extremely calm expression on his face.

"Sir! Two SOLDIER's have escaped!" Reno said, running up and trying to get through the door.

"You're too late, Reno. I've already been informed." Rufus said. "And wasn't it one SOLDIER and a trainee?" he glanced over at Lazard for confirmation and looked back at Reno after getting a nod.

"Uh, sorry Sir." Reno said, sloppily pulling into attention. Rude appeared beside him and also stood at attention, though his hands were behind his back and not in his pockets like Reno.

"Hmm," Rufus rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then nodded as if to himself. "Reno, Rude, I want the two of you to get out there and bring them back, understood?"

"Yes, Sir." the two spoke in sync.

"Good. Then you're dismissed to get on the job right away." Rufus said, waving a hand lazily. The two of them turned and left quickly and it was almost as if they had never been there. By now, Hojo had been able to get his emotions under control.

"Sir, if you don't mind I'd like to get back down to my lab to try and clean up a bit." he said.

"Sure." Rufus said absent-mindedly, already turning to Lazard again. "I want you to send out a whole team to help round up the two rebels, all right?"

"Yes, Sir." Lazard said. Hojo had paused in the doorway, listening to the last instruction that was given out. A small smirk appeared on his face and he continued walking. Before the SOLDIER's left for a mission they would have to get an extra dose of mako since the last time they'd gotten any was a while ago. Quickly, Hojo hurried down to his extra lab to prepare the dosages.

"Man, I wish we could've seen the look on his face! Ah well, the satisfaction is good enough for me." Zack chuckled.

"Keep it down back there! I thought ya said yer on the run." Zack had managed to thumb down a ride and he and Cloud were currently sitting in the back of a ute.

"Yeah, yeah," Zack shot back to the driver. "I'm nowhere near as loud as this piece of trash!" to emphasize his point, he slapped a hand against the side of the vehicle.

"Ya want off?" the driver asked. Zack laughed and shook his head, turning his attention to Cloud again.

"Maybe we'll go back there some day, buddy," Zack shrugged. "But not today." The ute lurched over an extra-bumpy spot and Zack winced, rubbing his back from where it had banged into the side. "I mean, all they'd do is listen to Hojo's whining and send us back down to the labs, so why bother?"

Cloud made an almost inaudible noise and Zack frowned, worried. He knew Cloud had never had any mako before so the sudden exposure to it was dangerous for the kid. It looked like he had mako poisoning, but Zack had never experienced anyone with that problem before so he didn't know what was a really bad case of it or a mild case of it.

"Spiky, what're you planning on doing in Midgar?" Zack asked, a cheeky grin on show. "How 'bout mercenaries, yeah?"

"I.." Cloud swallowed and his head lolled to one side. There was pain on his face and Zack's grin disappeared, replaced with concern.

"Hey, buddy, you don't have to try and talk." Zack said. The car went over another particularly bumpy spot and Cloud was thrown about ruthlessly. Zack glanced at Cloud again before standing up and leaning over to the driver. "Hey, any idea when we're gonna get there?" he asked.

"Nah, no clue. Stop askin', yeah?"

Zack rolled his eyes and shook his head with a laugh. He balanced himself on his feet and brought his arms above his head, stretching.

Something felt wrong.

Opening his eyes, Zack immediately saw the helicopter which was heading their way, though still far off. It took him a few seconds to decide what he was going to do and figure out that the tiny symbol on the tiny helicopter was in fact the ShinRa symbol. He figured they'd be coming to pick them up again and take them back to ShinRa, and he wasn't down with that.

It was when he was squatting down again to try and not be seen that he saw a familiar object being revealed at the side of the helicopter; a machine gun modified specifically for use in a flying metal craft.

"Cloud!" Zack acted in an instant, hurrying over to Cloud's side and pulling him away from the visible edge to hide. He could hear the helicopter now and glanced up to see that it had gotten closer rather quickly.

"This is yer stop!" the driver yelled, pulling the ute to an unexpected halt. He had seen the helicopter and the gun. "I ain't riskin' myself fer ya now that there's somethin' like that involved." Zack nodded and jumped to the ground, hurriedly pulling Cloud after him. The ute fired up again and drove off just as a couple of rounds of bullets dug up the ground behind it.

"C'mon!" Zack yelled, draping one of Cloud's arms around his neck and beginning to run towards the boulders that were just a few metres away. Putting Cloud down behind one, he glanced over his shoulder to see the helicopter heading past them and getting closer to the ground. "Darn, there must be more." he muttered.

Ruffling Cloud's hair, he took a deep breath and turned, walking off to meet the ShinRa operatives head on.

Cloud's vocal chords weren't obeying him as he tried to speak before Zack left. He managed to lift a hand, trying to get Zack's attention, but it was no use. Zack was determined, and Cloud had mako poisoning.

Though, Zack did pause in his walking to pull his phone out of his pocket and drop it on the ground before continuing on, and this was now Cloud's goal. He had to get to that phone.

Dragging himself forward as Zack disappeared from view behind some other boulders, he reached towards the phone with his hand and screwed his face up in annoyance when he felt his fingertips brush against it, accidentally knocking it further away.

His vision was going slightly blurry again, so with a final shove he managed to clutch the phone and then relaxed, resting his back against a boulder. He waited a few moments, catching his breath and trying to bring his vision back under control, before lifting the phone in front of his face and going to the contacts.

Aerith. Should he call her? But what would she be able to do? And weren't the Turks after her because she was an Ancient? Cloud shook his head slightly. There was always the possibility that they had found her, and calling her might only alert them to where he was hiding.

He continued through the list of contacts, many of them sparking no familiarity in his mind whatsoever. There must be someone on the list that could help them, right?

Cloud almost threw the phone from his hand in shock when it started to ring. He stared in horror as the name appeared on the screen to say who the call was from. Reno. Why did Zack even have Reno's number? He was a Turk.

Without knowing why, Cloud answered the call and slowly held the phone up to his ear. He didn't say anything, simply waiting for Reno to realise the call had been answered.

"Uh, hello? Zack?" Cloud heard Reno's cautious voice but still didn't answer. "Um, look, the President wants you two to get back here all right? If you don't come right away they said something about-"

"Reno." Cloud choked out.

"Strife? Where's Zack?" Reno asked.

"Can I.. trust you?" Cloud said, his voice straining on every word.

"Yeah, o' course!" Reno said hurriedly. "What's happened?"

"Was it.. you that shot at us?" Cloud questioned, trying to get as much information as possible.

"What? No! No one should be shooting at you!" Reno exclaimed.

"Someone did.. and Zack went off to," Cloud swallowed. "fight them."

"All right, where are you?" Reno asked.

"Boulders." Cloud mumbled. His eyes were feeling heavy again.

"Hang tight, we'll be there soon." Reno said, hanging up. Cloud hung up the phone and let it fall to the ground, his head dropping limply as he blacked out again.

Reno relayed what he knew to Rude and the two of them were quickly on their way over to where the boulders were known to be located. Reno and Zack were, in a way, friends. Whenever they ran into each other they would trade sarcastic remarks about how each was better than the other, but it was all in fun. Behind the competitive faces, they had become 'sort-of' friends.

"Gosh, you can see it a mile away." Reno mumbled, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he headed his helicopter towards where he could see the hundreds of normal ShinRa Soldiers all in battle positions on the boulders. They were all facing the same way, of course, and Reno could now also see Zack at the front with his buster sword in hand.

Swinging the helicopter around to the back of the ShinRa Soldiers, he switched on a radio and tuned it so that he could communicate with the other helicopter also flying nearby.

"This is Reeeno," Rude shot his partner a disapproving look but then turned away again as Reno smirked. "State your mission objective."

"We are not authorised to give out mission information to outside teams." came the reply.

"Look, you're not meant to shoot them." Reno said. "We're supposed to be bringing them back peacefully, only with the use of Soldiers if they disagree, and only to force them to come."

"We were given second orders once you left eagerly," the voice crackled through again. "They're wanted dead or alive."

"What kind of an idiot gave you those instructions?" Reno snapped angrily.

"Professor Hojo relayed them to us from the President himself."

"Yeah, there's your problem." Reno scoffed. Rude shot him another glare and he rolled his eyes. "Just leave it to me all right? If I can't get them out 'peacefully' you can do whatever you want. Agree?"

There was a pause before the voice answered, "All right. We'll give you five minutes." Reno hurriedly turned the radio off so that he could laugh aloud and began mumbling to his partner.

"They expect us to do it in five minutes? Only real brilliance can pull that off. Good thing we're real brilliance, ey? Well come on, we're wasting time just sitting here talking our heads off." Reno stretched and then took hold of the controls again, flying over the top of all the Soldiers towards where Zack was standing and holding his buster sword in front of him.

"You will have to tell him of our intentions." Rude said.

"Yeah, yeah. Getting to that." Reno said, waving a hand absent-mindedly at Rude.

Opening the side door of the helicopter, Reno positioned the large machine right above the first class SOLDIER and grabbed hold on Rude's arm so that he could hang almost upside down out of the helicopter without falling. Rude rolled his eyes and grabbed Reno's arm just to ensure his partner didn't actually fall. Besides, that would mean more paperwork.

"Hey, Zack!" Reno shouted. Zack flinched and he looked up, stumbling back slightly in shock at what he saw.

"Reno?" he asked. "We're not coming back so give up!"

"No, listen!" Reno persisted. "I've got less than five minutes to get you to co-operate and if you don't they're gonna kill you! Climb aboard, we'll find your buddy and get outta here."

"I told you, we're not going back!" Zack replied firmly.

"No you idiot, and I'm not taking you back!" Reno said, annoyance in his voice. "They think I'm gonna take you back which is why you're safe with me. If you want I'll take you to where your girlfriend is being hidden."

"What? You're hiding Aerith from ShinRa?" Zack asked, absolutely and completely gobsmacked.

"Yes you idiot! Now climb aboard before they open-fire!" Reno signalled to Rude, who pulled him up into his seat properly again before taking the helicopter down closer to the ground. Zack swung his sword back onto his back and reached up to pull himself into the helicopter. "Sorry it's such a tight fit." Reno said as he shoved Zack into the back of the aircraft.

The pilot of the other helicopter raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes with an annoyed sigh.

"Reno actually pulled it off? Those Soldiers are gonna go mad if they don't get to kill anything." His partner nodded in agreement.

"I know I shouldn't have, but I saw Professor Hojo putting something with the mako to make them like this."

"Hmm, I had a feeling he was up to something. His entire lab had been smashed and he was looking happy, it just didn't match up. Oh well, you won't mention this to anyone will you? Anyone that crosses paths with that Professor ends up dead."

"Yeah, I know. I won't say a thing."

"Good."

"Where'd you leave Strife?" Reno asked, picking the helicopter off the ground again and glancing around to make sure the Soldiers weren't planning on making a surprise attack.

"Just around there, behind the huge boulder that looks like a... boulder." Zack shrugged. Reno chuckled and nodded, taking the helicopter around and landing again.

"Why'd you leave your phone with him?" Reno asked curiously.

"Huh? How'd you know? I just dropped it on the ground so it wouldn't get broken if I had to fight a lot." Zack said as he climbed out of the helicopter.

"I called and Cloud answered. That's how I found you so fast." Reno said.

"He's awake!?" Zack asked, his face lighting up in excitement. He ran over to where he'd left him and shoved his phone in his pocket, drooping a little when he saw that Cloud was still unconscious.

"Just hurry up and get him over here. They're gonna wonder why we landed again right behind the boulders." Reno called over.

"Yeah, coming." Zack said, scooping Cloud up and carrying him over to the helicopter. With the help of Reno and Rude, he was soon slumped in one of the back seats. "All right, let's go." Zack pulled himself in and Reno shut the door, starting the helicopter up again.

"So, to Aerith?" Reno asked.

"To Aerith." Zack nodded.


	14. Chapter 14

Tifa Lockhart walked slowly towards the bar she had just recently set up. Seventh Heaven, as it was called, was running smoothly. But there was something missing. Tifa knew what it was in the back of her mind but did not allow herself to think about it any longer than two seconds at a time. Besides, why dwell in the past?

Opening the door and walking inside, she smiled. This place helped people let go for a while as they drowned their sorrows with some drinks. However, Tifa never allowed herself that privilege as she told herself it wasted supplies for the customers.

"Tifa! You're back!" There was a flash of brown hair and then Tifa was almost knocked off her feet by the young girl that had just appeared and hugged her.

"Hey, Marlene." Tifa grinned, hugging the girl back. Marlene was her friend's daughter and she was looking after her for a while.

"I put all the dishes away carefully and didn't break any of them!" Marlene said proudly, her large brown eyes staring up at Tifa.

"That's great! I knew you would." Tifa said, taking her hand and walking with her to the kitchen.

"Yep! Cause.." Marlene trailed off and let go of Tifa's hand, turning away and putting on her 'innocent' face. Tifa waited, but the girl didn't continue what she had begun saying.

"Marlene, what?" Tifa asked.

"Nothing!" Marlene said, rather quickly. Tifa raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips accusingly. Marlene quickly put a hand to her mouth, trying not to giggle. As the two girls stared at each other, a sudden giggle-snort sounded from a cupboard. Tifa jumped and Marlene burst into giggles, turning and running for the safety of her bedroom.

Tifa slowly looked towards the cupboard where the sound had come from, knowing it couldn't be anyone horrible because Marlene knew them seeing as she was giggling. It was also obvious now that whoever was in the cupboard had helped Marlene put all the dishes away. _So_, Tifa thought to herself, _who could it be?_

"Reno, get out of the cupboard." Tifa said monotonously.

"Whaaat?" came the reply. The cupboard door swung open and Reno pulled himself out, standing up and stretching and then looking at Tifa sheepishly. "How did you know it was me?" he asked.

"Who else hides in cupboards that are too small for them?" Tifa asked.

"Eh, good point." Reno said, scratching his head nervously. Tifa sighed and turned just in time to see Marlene walk into the room again.

"Sorry I didn't tell you! He made me promise!" Marlene said, her eyes begging for forgiveness. The sight of her made Tifa laugh.

"It's fine! Besides, it's good to have some surprises in life." she reassured Marlene.

"Yeah, and remember what I told you Marly? It's _so_ true." Reno said, chuckling. Marlene giggled and quickly put her hands over her mouth again.

"Reno.. what did you tell her?" Tifa asked, looking over at him with a death glare.

"Nothing!" Reno said stepping backwards slightly, an innocent smile on his face. Tifa shook her head in amazement at how alike the two were.

"Fine, have your secrets." Tifa said, running a hand through her hair and heading for the door.

"Tee-farrr." Reno said, leaning lazily against the bench.

"What?" Tifa asked, spinning around to face him again.

"I missed you." he said. Tifa blinked and felt her cheeks going red. Mumbling a 'whatever' she walked out of the room quickly. Reno hurried over to Marlene and squatted in front of her.

"She blushed!" Reno whispered excitedly.

"You're right! She does like you!" Marlene replied also in a whisper, her eyes shining in happiness.

"Come on kiddo, let's go play a game." Reno said. Marlene nodded eagerly and they ran off to play a game, which ended up being twister.

Tifa was up in her room, digging through a drawer which she hadn't looked through in a while. Finally, at the bottom, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. Looking at the photograph of her childhood friend, she found herself smiling softly.

"Cloud.." she whispered. Her feelings tumbled around inside her and she put the photo down with a sigh. She hadn't seen him in two years since he was rescued by ShinRa, and now she found herself slowly falling for Reno.

"This is silly." she scolded herself, turning away from the photo and crossing to her bed to smooth out the creases. "He's not coming back, just take the opportunity in front of you."

"Remember, you can't be seen." Zack said gently, putting a hand on Cloud's arm.

"I know." Cloud said, shrugging his friend off. Aerith stood to the side, hands clasped together in front of her as she watched with sad eyes. She felt sorry for Cloud as all he wanted was to tell see Tifa again and couldn't because they had to keep hiding from ShinRa.

"I'll follow at a distance as usual, just in case someone sees you and I gotta get you outta there." Zack said. Cloud stared at the ground and nodded. With a sigh, Zack walked over to Aerith. He smiled and kissed her before nodding at Cloud to tell him he could go.

Cloud turned and walked out of the run-down church. It was his turn today to get some food from the shops. Aerith was quite happy staying at the church to look after the flowers that were growing there, although Zack had made it quite obvious that even when it wasn't his turn to buy the food he would follow behind to protect whoever was going. Aerith and Cloud both knew he only did it because he wanted to get out of the church every now and then.

When Cloud arrived at the shops, he walked in and bought everything that was needed. He was wearing clothes that weren't normal for him though Zack had insisted he wear it to increase the chances of staying hidden. Along with the clothes was a hoodie, which Cloud had been forced to wear up.

Cloud moved quickly, darting between shops and making it look like he was really intrigued by everything there was to see. He went over to one shop that sold different hats and glanced over his shoulder, meeting Zack's eye and giving a childish grin. Zack chuckled from where he stood and turned away, sitting down and preparing himself for a long wait while the boy - no, man – had a long look at hats and whatever caught his eye.

As soon as Zack turned away Cloud took off. He didn't care that they had drilled it into his head a million times that he couldn't go see her. He _had_ to! Besides, he knew where to find her and wasn't planning on being very long. Hopefully Zack wouldn't even know he was gone before he got back.

Pretty soon the building loomed up in front of him. He stopped just before knocking on the door, suddenly feeling worried that maybe she wouldn't want to see him.

"Left foot yellow!" Cloud frowned. Who's voice was that? It sounded like a young girl.

"Which is my left foot?" A laugh followed that statement and Cloud found himself smiling slightly. At least he knew Tifa was there. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Coming!" the child's voice was heard again and he heard feet running towards the door.

"No, Marlene don't open the door!" Tifa's warning rang out just as Marlene wrenched the door open. Cloud, Tifa and Reno all stared at each other. Marlene looked up at Cloud with wide eyes and mumbled an 'oops'.

What Cloud saw was Reno standing just to the side of a twister mat and Tifa hurriedly standing up on the mat. It was obvious she had been playing moments before. Marlene, the girl, stood with one hand on the door and the other by her side holding the twister board.

"Cloud?" Tifa questioned, her voice proving that she didn't believe her eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

"You.." Cloud stared at Reno, eyes narrowing into a death glare. "How dare you."

"Uh, Cloud, can we talk?" Reno asked, scratching his head nervously and gesturing to a door at the side.

"You tell us we can never be seen, that we have to hide and can't let anyone know we're alive in case they tell on us and yet you've been here all the time, not even telling me she's all right!?" Cloud yelled, walking forward past Marlene quickly so that he was soon holding Reno up against the wall.

"Hey, chill! I did it to protect you!" Reno said.

"You kept it a secret that Cloud was alive?" Tifa gasped.

"I had to! But now he's gone and blown his cover!" Reno shouted. "Now let me go and let's see what Zack will have to say about this!"

"You are so low! What ulterior motive did you have? Did you want Tifa all to yourself?" Cloud growled. Tifa's eyes widened as Reno faltered and then stuttered, looking away.

"Reno?" Tifa questioned quietly. Reno's gaze shot back up to Cloud, filled with sudden anger.

"So now you're jealous? You're only angry at me because I was with Tifa and you weren't? You've been her friend since forever! Why don't you give someone else a chance once in a while?" he spat.

"Stop it!" Marlene shouted, eyes clenched shut and bottom lip quivering in fright. Tifa hurried over to her, hugging her.

"It's okay, we've just got to work some things out, okay? Can you please go up to your room?" she asked gently. Marlene nodded and hurried off.

"Let me go!" Reno yelled. Cloud hesitated, but slowly lowered him down and stepped back.

"You deliberately told us we couldn't go anywhere except to buy food so that I'd be weak and I wouldn't be able to fight you when I found out." Cloud said.

"Stop accusing each other of things!" Tifa snapped.

"Tifa, has Cloud ever told you he loves you?" Reno asked, turning to face her. Tifa frowned in confusion, wondering why Reno was asking this.

"Well, no. Why?" she asked.

"I have! Remember? So if he couldn't tell you he loved you after loving you year after year, he doesn't deserve you!" Reno explained desperately.

"What, and you do!?" Cloud yelled, stepping towards Reno threateningly. Tifa hurriedly stepped between them.

"Stop it! Reno, maybe you should go home for a while so that I can catch up with Cloud." she suggested.

"He'll make you go back with him!" Reno complained. "I can't lose you so soon!" It was an all-out competition now between himself and Cloud. He didn't care if he had to spill all his secrets to her about how much he loved her. If it meant proving to her that he was better than Cloud, he'd do it without hesitating.

"Why is it only now that you openly admit you like me then?" Tifa asked angrily.

"I just wanted to slowly make you realise so that you could get used to the idea." Reno shrugged. "That way I've got a better chance of having you say yes when I finally ask you out. So Tifa, will you go out with me?"

"You think you can just ask her now!?" Cloud snapped, stepping in front of him and pushing Tifa back slightly.

"Yeah! I do!" Reno spat, reaching out and doing the unthinkable - pushing Cloud backwards.

"Start running red-head." Cloud growled, a terrifying look of anger building up in his eyes.

*

"Aerith! Have you seen Cloud?" Zack burst into the church, eyes scanning every inch of it quickly. Aerith stood up from where she had been picking some flowers and shook her head.

"You don't think..." Aerith trailed off, her expression becoming sad as she thought of what Cloud might have done.

"I've got no choice, I have to see if he's there." Zack shrugged. "Just stay here and don't worry about anything. If he's there I'll bring him back and if he's not then I'll come back here for the day." Aerith nodded and knelt down again to pick some more flowers as Zack turned and left.

Zack made his way through the market, not missing a single face in case it was Cloud in a different disguise. He made his way to the other side of the market and began searching his memory for what Cloud had told him about where Tifa would be. Her dream had been to start her own business; a place where people could forget about their problems for a bit. So, he was looking for a bar.

"Hey, could you tell me where the nearest bar is from here?" Zack asked in a gruff voice to someone who was walking by. They stopped and looked at him, nodding.

"Seventh Heaven. It's in that general direction and there's a sign out front. You should be able to find it just fine. I don't think it's open right now though. They tend to have these days off." the stranger explained, and then walked off again.

Zack hurried off in the direction the stranger had pointed, hoping that Seventh Heaven was Tifa's bar and that Cloud was there. However, it would be better if Cloud was just walking around lost and hadn't gone to find Tifa.

He rounded a corner and smiled as he saw the sign a bit further up. The building was a decent size and once Zack reached it he could hear shouting voices. A crash near the door startled him and he took a half step back.

"Stop it! You're acting so childish!" Tifa's voice rang out and Zack wondered what on earth Cloud had gotten himself into. In an instant, Zack flung the door open and got ready to restrain a psycho-Cloud. What he saw did not click inside his mind at first. Cloud had Reno up against a wall, his hands gripping the red-heads neck. Reno's lip was bleeding and he had a black eye, so Zack wasted no time in jumping between the two and giving Cloud an almighty shove in the opposite direction where he slammed into a wall and sunk onto the ground.

"Z-Zack?" Tifa stuttered. "You're alive too?"

"Aw man, my head hurts so bad." Reno slumped down to sit on the floor and bent over, putting his head in his hands.

"What are you doing here, Reno?" Zack asked.

"He's been here ever since you went missing!" Tifa snapped, determined to get the full story to Zack before anyone could start complaining. "He's never told me anything about you being alive and as Cloud said, he never told you I was okay either!"

"I hate him." Cloud muttered.

"That's just because you're a jealous loser!" Reno yelled at him.

"Oh yeah? Wanna take this outside?" Cloud leapt up, but Zack was at his side in an instant and shoved him back onto the floor.

"Okay, tell me what's going on." Zack said calmly.

"I thought you were dead!" Tifa said, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"I would've come sooner," Cloud mumbled, staring at the floor. "But Zack didn't want me to come see you either. 'Cause we were hiding and all."

"Everyone knows you're friends with Tifa! If anyone notices there are more people in this house they'll start asking questions." Reno snapped.

"That never stopped you." Cloud retorted.

"Stop it!" Tifa commanded impatiently. "Zack, these two are practically biting each others heads off with jealousy!" Zack stared at Cloud and then looked over at Reno. Shaking his head, he let out a low whistle.

"What an interesting situation we have on our hands. Too bad we can't stay around to watch it play out." Zack reached over and pulled Cloud up from the ground. "Say goodbye, we're leaving."

"Zack-!"

"Don't argue with me!" Zack snapped, suddenly with a frighteningly stern expression adorning his face. Cloud stared at his friend and ground his teeth together angrily before looking over at Tifa. Her eye were wide with sadness.

"At least you know I'm alive." Cloud mumbled, then turned his head sharply to look at Reno. "If you hurt her, I promise you'll die a slow and painful death." Reno slowly raised his eyes to look at the blonde, and nodded seriously.

"Good, let's go." Zack said, putting a hand on Cloud's shoulder to steer him out the door. Cloud tensed and looked over his shoulder at Tifa, hoping she would recognise the plain promise in his eyes and the sincerity that he would keep it.

"Bye." Tifa said softly, a sad smile raising the edges of her lips. Cloud turned to look ahead again, and allowed himself to be directed out the door by Zack, who then closed it behind.

"Come on, Aerith's waiting." Zack said quietly.

"Yeah, and we don't want _her_ to think we've suddenly died." Cloud scoffed. Zack narrowed his eyes angrily but didn't say anything, knowing it would only make things worse.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ruined... it's completely ruined." The woman shook her head in disbelief, not being able to understand what she was seeing. Her husband put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

"It's okay. We'll find him." He whispered encouragingly. A small boy reached out and tugged on the man's sleeve, eyes full of sadness.

"He's okay, right?" the boy asked cautiously.

"Of course he is, Denzel. He was a strong kid. He will have survived." The woman smiled down at him and ruffled his hair. He grinned back.

"Come on. We should find somewhere to stay around here." The man led his wife and the boy away from the remains of the ShinRa building, taking them through some streets in searching for somewhere to spend the night.

*

"Cloud! You know you shouldn't have done that!" Aerith scolded gently after having Zack explain what he had done. Cloud remained silent and walked over to sit on one of the only non-broken pews.

"Reno was there." Cloud muttered in such a way that it sounded as if he was just talking to himself, trying to make sense of it. Aerith's mouth fell open.

"What? Reno was with Tifa?" she gasped.

"How many years have we been gone, Zack?" Cloud asked sharply, looking up to fix his gaze on his friend.

"Uh, two years?" Zack scratched his head thoughtfully.

"That doesn't make sense." Cloud shook his head, staring at the ground again.

"What doesn't?" Aerith asked.

"She..." Cloud gulped. "There was a little girl there."

Zack and Aerith stared at Cloud for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was saying. Then Zack hooted in laughter and Aerith frowned, still not getting it.

"You're the most jealous guy I've ever met!" Zack laughed, doubled over. "Every little thing makes you paranoid!"

"Oh!" Aerith gasped, finally understanding what Cloud had thought.

"Well why else would Tifa and Reno be in the same house with a kid?" Cloud snapped angrily.

"Maybe they're babysitting?" Zack shrugged, still chuckling.

"I can't believe you're making a joke out of this!" Cloud stood up, hands clenched into fists at his sides. "What would you do if you found Aerith at some house with another guy, and a kid was running around!?"

That shut Zack up.

"Cloud, please." Aerith whispered.

"I've had enough of this! I'm sick of hiding around so that ShinRa can't find us. Tifa would never tell anyone, but even if people did somehow find out I wouldn't care! ShinRa can come find me for all I care." Cloud walked over to where his bag was that had his things and picked it up, heading for the door.

"Cloud, you're endangering more than just yourself here." Zack said quietly, his voice carrying the hint of a threat.

Without even one glance backwards, Cloud left.

*

"Are you sure you don't mind us staying the night?" The woman asked again, hesitating.

"Positive! I usually have a few drunks sleeping downstairs anyway." Tifa shrugged and grinned. "But, you can sleep in the guest room. Besides, Marlene might enjoy the company of someone around her age." Marlene peeked shyly from behind Tifa's leg, staring curiously at the boy who was hiding behind the couple.

"Well, alright. If you're sure it's fine." The woman finally agreed. She took her husband's hand and followed as Tifa led the way to the guest room. Getting settled in, they joined Tifa and Marlene for dinner after much persuasion.

"Sorry, I never really introduced myself." Tifa apologised. "I'm Tifa Lockhart."

"Oh, none of us did, did we?" The woman said. "I'm Renee, this is Ben and this is Denzel." Tifa noticed that no last name was provided with any of the names, but waved it off.

"It really is a pleasure meeting you." Tifa said.

"You as well. We didn't know such hospitality still existed in the world." Ben said.

"Tifa?" A loud voice called out and banging was heard on the front door. Tifa jumped, startled by the voice. Seeing the couple's also startled faces, she tried to compose hers.

"Excuse me." she said, quickly standing up and leaving the room. Her heart-rate had sped up as soon as she heard it, knowing immediately who it was. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Tifa, I..." Cloud stood on the doorstep, struggling to find words to say and shaking slightly from nerves. "I want to stay."

"You want to stay?" Tifa asked slowly.

"I don't want to stay away from you; I can't." Cloud took a shaky breath and lowered his eyes.

Tifa stood still for a moment, wondering how she would reply to him. Would she welcome him and give him hope that they still might have a chance together? Or would she send him away and give the impression she had chosen Reno?

"Come in," she said softly. "We're just having dinner." Cloud visibly relaxed, letting out a small sigh and stepping past her into the house.

*

"Zack, it was his own choice." Aerith said, trying to pull Zack out of his mindless pacing.

"He's endangered us all. If they find him they'll know we're alive too." Zack mumbled, thinking out loud.

"It's not his fault. Would you really stay away from me just to stay alive?" Aerith questioned. Zack paused slightly mid-step, but quickly continued so it was hardly noticed.

"We have to make sure she won't tell anyone. Maybe we should all stay at her house to keep an eye on her." Zack pretended Aerith wasn't in the room, trying to allow his mind room to think.

"Zack! Would you please start thinking rationally? Reno managed to stay with Tifa all this time and no one even suspected anything suspicious going on even though it's almost common knowledge that Tifa is Cloud's best friend. Also, no one's come looking for Reno to find out why he disappeared and never completed his mission of bringing the two of you back to ShinRa. I think that's proof enough that she can be trusted." Aerith explained forcefully.

Zack sighed and finally stopped pacing, turning to look at her.

"I'm just worried about you." he admitted softly. "I don't want them to find you."

"Zack, they won't." Aerith reassured him, walking over and hugging him. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"

"I just can't imagine what life would be like if they got hold of you." Zack murmured.

"Don't worry about it." Aerith drew back from him and smiled. "Do you want to help me with my flowers? I was going to pick a few to decorate different parts of the church." Zack grinned down at her and nodded.

"Trust you to make me feel better." he chuckled.

*

"I've got some people over to spend the night, they had nowhere else to go and they've got a little boy with them." Tifa explained quietly. "I'll try and find something you can eat, I barely even cooked for five."

"It's okay, I'm not hungry." Cloud mumbled. Tifa stood still awkwardly, not knowing whether she should urge him to eat food or just allow him to do what he wanted.

"Okay. I'll set up a bed in the office." She turned to go do just that, but was stopped as Cloud grabbed her arm.

"Tell me where everything is and I'll do it. You shouldn't leave your guests unattended for too long." His words were firm and Tifa momentarily found herself looking at what she pictured as a fatherly figure, but she pushed the thought away and quickly explained where everything was, allowing him to walk past the kitchen and straight upstairs.

Tifa went back to the kitchen and sat down, smiling apologetically at Renee and Ben.

"Just one of my friends." she explained poorly. Marlene looked confused, probably wondering why Tifa had let the frightening man from before back inside.

"There are enough rooms, aren't there?" Renee asked again, this time wondering about where Tifa's friend would be staying and whether that would mean there would be nowhere for them.

"Oh, yeah. He's going to stay in the office. He's setting up the spare bed right now." Tifa nodded. Renee relaxed again, glad that they wouldn't have to search around anymore.

They ate in silence for a while, amusing themselves by watching as Marlene and Denzel shot each other looks that were obviously curious and occasionally made weird faces.

"Thank you so much for the food, we really are in your debt." Ben said as they finished up. Tifa shook her head, mumbling something about how it really didn't matter.

"I'll show you to the guest room." Tifa said, standing and leading them upstairs. She showed them in and helped them set up another smaller bed for Denzel, then leaving them to go back downstairs to where Marlene was efficiently taking the dishes over to be washed and starting the water.

"Aww, thanks." Tifa said, giving Marlene a side hug. The two of them worked side by side as they washed the dishes, wiped them and put them away.

When they finished Tifa sent Marlene to bed and went to get ready to do the same. She wondered if Cloud was alright, and felt horrible for what had happened earlier with Reno. Truthfully, Tifa liked Cloud more than Reno. It was probably just because she had known him longer, but it was a fact.

With a sigh, Tifa got into her bed and fell asleep, acutely aware that things around the house would get a lot more tense from now on.


	17. Chapter 17

In the morning, Tifa provided breakfast for herself, Marlene and her guests. However, she hadn't seen Cloud yet and wasn't sure where he was. Excusing herself momentarily to go check on him, she found the office empty and the spare bed neatly made with only small impressions to show it had been slept in.

Confused and slightly hurt, Tifa went back downstairs to continue eating breakfast. Marlene and Denzel had already finished and Marlene was leading him off to show him some of her toys.

"Children are so innocent." Renee said, smiling.

"Yeah," Tifa nodded. "They sure are."

They continued eating and Tifa let her thoughts roam back to Cloud. Had he changed his mind already? Didn't he want to be around her? Was he just too uncomfortable?

"We should get going." Ben said once he and Renee had finished eating. "We have... things to do." He looked over at Renee and she shook her head slightly.

"We should stay a bit longer," she paused and looked at Tifa. "If that's alright with you? It's just that, Denzel's never really played with toys before. He's an orphan."

"That's fine!" Tifa said quickly, her eyes widening slightly. "He can even keep some if he wants!"

"Oh no, we couldn't possibly..." Renee trailed off and looked away.

"Well anyway, make yourselves at home." Tifa urged, not wanting the conversation to turn uncomfortable. "I'll be around, probably just doing house work."

She stood up and smiled at them, leaving to go wash up. As she ran the water, she thought she could hear the giggles of happy children and smiled wider. It was strange having another child than just Marlene around the house. It was nice.

*

Reno whistled happily and out of tune, walking along the footpath with a smile on his face. He was going to see Tifa today. Not that it was a strange occurrence seeing as he almost went every day anyway, but he was just particularly happy today. Maybe it had something to do with what had happened yesterday.

_"If you hurt her, I promise you'll die a slow and painful death."_

In a round-a-bout way, Cloud had told Reno that Tifa was all his as long as he didn't hurt her, and hurting her was the last thing on his mind.

Letting his eyes wander around at the crowds of people that were already out, Reno began counting his steps. He was trying to think of ways to amuse himself so that he'd be at Tifa's house in no time.

"Reno."

The fact that it was his name that had been spoken was not what made Reno stop and spin around to see who was talking to him. It was the voice that said it.

Staring at the person who had spoken to him, his eyes widened as far as they could possibly go and his mouth fell open.

"You're... alive!?" he gasped.

*

Tifa quickly wiped her hands dry and went to the door to see who it was that had rung the doorbell. Opening it up, she winced inwardly as she saw it was Reno.

"Hey," she said, smiling slightly. "Are you okay? You don't usually ring the doorbell."

"I'm fine. Can I come in?" Reno grinned back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, sure." She stepped back and allowed him to walk in.

"Do I hear two children voices?" Reno asked, curiosity appearing on his face as he turned back to look at Tifa again. Tifa giggled slightly and nodded.

"Yeah, I've got a couple staying over for a bit." she explained vaguely. Reno nodded in acceptance of the explanation and wandered further in the house. Tifa found herself tensing up and glancing back at the door in paranoia. What if Cloud decided to come back now? What would he think to see Reno here again?

"Who's that?"

"Reno."

"Oh. Who?"

"Tifa's friend. He's really funny."

"Hey kids!" Tifa smiled, managing to relax slightly as she walked after Reno and found him talking to Marlene and Denzel. "What are you guys up to?"

"Can we play twister again?" Marlene asked excitedly.

"Sure! Can you fetch it for me?" Reno asked, grinning. Marlene nodded and ran off to grab it.

"Your hair's really red." Denzel pointed out. Reno widened his eyes, feigning shock.

"Really? Is it?" he asked. Denzel grinned and nodded, obviously thinking Reno amusing.

"Here it is!" Marlene came running back in and began stretching out the twister mat. Reno went over to help her and soon he was calling out instructions for them and they were giggling madly.

"Does this come naturally or something?" Tifa asked quietly to Reno as the children fought over a blue circle.

"What?" Reno asked, looking over at her in confusion. She laughed lightly.

"Dealing with kids." she said.

"Oh. Dunno." Reno shrugged and turned back to see Marlene and Denzel sharing the blue circle. He flicked the arrow on the twister board he was holding. "Right hand green."

Tifa sighed, wrapping her arms around herself gently and leaving the room to go back to her washing up. There was no point in asking Reno to leave when Marlene seemed to love him so much.

*

"Zack?" Cloud hesitated in the doorway of the church, watching as Zack and Aerith both looked up in shock. "I'm sorry."

Zack ran over to him, pulling him inside the church and getting him in a headlock, grinning widely.

"Knew you'd come back!" he laughed.

"Zack, get off me!" Cloud shoved his friend off and rolled his eyes at Zack's hurt puppy look. "I'm not back for good, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for what I said yesterday."

"Oh." Zack's playful mood changed and he stood there awkwardly, realising he'd had a foot-in-mouth moment.

"Just didn't want you to be mad at me." Cloud mumbled.

"It's alright Cloud, we understand." Aerith said, walking up to stand beside Zack and put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

"Thanks." Cloud said.

"How's Tifa?" Aerith asked, trying to be helpful.

"She's fine." Cloud shrugged. "Same as always I guess."

"I hope things work out for you Cloud." Aerith said gently. "You're a great guy." Cloud ducked his head, not used to taking compliments.

"Well I guess I should go back before I'm missed." Cloud scoffed slightly at the thought of being missed and then turned to leave.

"If you don't visit us I'll kill you." Zack growled. Cloud paused and grinned, looking back at Zack over his shoulder.

"Then I'll have to visit again, won't I?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Hey, Tifa? Is it alright if we watch some TV?" Renee asked, popping her head into the kitchen.

"Go for it!" Tifa nodded enthusiastically. Renee thanked her and left again, going to the lounge room. Tifa continued washing up, almost done when someone came up from behind and poked her sides. She squealed and spun around to glare accusingly at Reno.

"Sorry," Reno chuckled. "Couldn't resist."

"Don't do that ever again!" she scolded, but with a small smile on her face.

"Okay, okay. I promise." Reno said, chuckling. "But hey, you never told me who these guests of yours were."

"Oh, sorry! All I really know is that they didn't have anywhere else to go, so I let them stay here. The boy's name is Denzel and the couple are Renee and Ben." Tifa explained. Reno stared at her.

"Renee and Ben?" he asked slowly, just to clarify.

"Yeah, why?" Tifa asked cautiously. Reno continued staring at her, his face paling quickly. His hands started to shake and he turned away, taking slow breaths. "Reno?"

"I have to go." he said, heading for the door. Tifa hurriedly followed, wanting to know what was wrong.

"Reno, tell me what's going on!" She reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. "Who are they to you?" Reno turned to look at her, a mix of emotions on his face.

"Please Tifa, I can't tell you." he whispered. She slowly let go of his arm, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Okay. But, you'd tell me if I was in danger wouldn't you?" she asked uncertainly. Reno looked away, and it looked to Tifa as if he was battling with himself.

"Yeah..." The way he said it made it sound like he wasn't sure, and Tifa tilted her head slightly, even more confused now than she had been before.

"Reno-"

"I have to go." Opening the door quickly, he slipped out and shut it behind him. Tifa sighed, walking back to the kitchen and wondering what on earth was going. Did Reno know Renee and Ben? And if so, how?

~~*~~

"Aerith, we need to talk." Zack said solemnly when he came back from buying more food at the market. "I overheard some people talking about something today..."

"What is it?" Aerith asked, immediately worried.

"Sit down, Aerith." Zack said quietly. She promptly sat down on a pew and Zack sat next to her. "ShinRa's been destroyed." Aerith blinked a few times, and then frowned.

"What?" she asked.

"It was risky, but I asked the men what they were talking about when I overheard them and they accused me of living under a rock. Nevertheless, they explained." Zack said, taking a deep breath. "This is what they said. Two years ago a couple of people escaped from ShinRa and and all of their soldiers and turks were sent out to bring them back. Two turks rebelled from the rest and helped them escape. They all disappeared and haven't been seen since.

"But the soldiers that had been sent out had been given messed up mako dosages which made them desperate to kill. As a team, the soldiers came back to ShinRa and attacked, bringing it to the ground. As they fought, they fought against each other as well and eventually killed each other off." Zack stopped and looked at Aerith sadly.

"That's horrible!" Aerith gasped.

"I know. I never realised the real danger of fighting those soldiers." he mumbled in reply.

"Then we don't have to hide." Aerith whispered quietly. "If ShinRa's gone, we're safe!" She looked up at Zack hopefully, and he had trouble resisting.

"We'll have to be careful at first, make sure they were telling the truth. But yeah, I guess we won't have to hide any more." Zack grinned slightly. Aerith's lips broke out into a grin and she flung her arms around him in a hug.

"This is great!" she said happily.

"Yes, it is." Zack nodded against her hair. He closed his eyes and a small tear trickled out. How many of his friends had died in that battle? How many of his friends had been given mako that was tainted with a lust for death?

~~*~~

"Tifa, I'm sorry. I just had to go apologise to Zack. I said some pretty nasty things yesterday." Cloud said quietly. Tifa stared at him and then waved a hand.

"That's fine! Do you want something to eat?" She began walking towards the kitchen and he trailed behind her slowly. He was wearing a SOLDIER uniform he had borrowed of Zack and modified a bit. He felt strangely comfortable in it.

"Tifa? Can you come help us fold the twister mat?" Marlene asked, appearing from the other room.

"Go on." Cloud said, walking past her to the kitchen. Tifa nodded and followed Marlene to help her out.

Cloud found himself some bread and ate it, not wanting to eat too much of anything that was there. He could hear Marlene talking to Tifa, but then he heard another voice that wasn't familiar. It was a boys voice.

"Maybe she _is_ babysitting." Cloud muttered to himself.

Deciding he would do everything he could to not be a burden to Tifa, he headed upstairs to the office. His bed looked exactly how he had left it, so he guessed no one had been in there. Taking a glance at the desk which he hadn't bothered to look at last night, his eyes widened. How did things ever get done in here? It was so messy.

"Tifa? Did you say it was in the office?" Cloud looked over just as Renee appeared in the doorway. He stared at her, and she stared back. Her eyes slowly widened, and her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped.


	19. Chapter 19

"Yes sir. They're staying at the church."

"Good. We'll get them this afternoon. And you've seen the people staying with Tifa Lockhart?"

"That's right sir."

"Are you sure she said their names were Renee and Ben?"

"Positive sir."

"Perfect. You're dismissed."

~~*~~

"C- Cloud?" Renee couldn't believe her eyes, continuing to stare in shock. "Cloud Strife?"

"What did you call me?" Cloud asked quickly, immediately defensive. Was this someone from ShinRa that had come looking for him?

"Yeah, it's in the office I think!" Tifa called up the stairs to answer Renee's previous question. Renee slowly lowered her arm.

"Please, are you Cloud Strife?" she asked desperately.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cloud stepped forward and pushed past her, heading downstairs again. She turned, her eyes following him as he left. Could it really be him?

"Hey, Cloud, could you help me out for a minute?" Tifa asked as she walked towards the kitchen. She'd just finished packing away the twister game. Cloud slowly followed her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I want to make a cake, seeing as there are so many people staying here now." Tifa explained, turning to grin at him. Cloud smiled gently back at her and nodded. "So, would you be able to pass ingredients to me and stuff?"

"Sure." Cloud nodded again and then the two of them set about getting everything ready.

There was a knock on the door and Cloud promised not to ruin the cake mixture as Tifa went off the answer it.

"Oh, hey Reno." Tifa said, shifting nervously.

"I'm so sorry about before." Reno said, smiling apologetically. "I thought I knew them and just wanted to figure out if I did. But, no." He chuckled to himself and then rolled his eyes.

"Oh, okay." Tifa said, shrugging. "Well, do you want to come in?" she stepped back and he nodded, walking inside.

"I smell food, are you cooking something?" Reno asked, grinning.

"Um, yeah. Look Reno," Tifa bit her lip nervously and then took a deep breath. "Cloud's over." Reno's grin disappeared, and in an instant his facial expression from before had returned.

"Cloud's _here_?" he asked.

"That's what I said, isn't it? What's wrong with you Reno?" Tifa shook her head slightly, not understanding.

"Uh, nothing." Reno looked at the ground. "Just getting a bit jealous again I guess."

"Right." Tifa said, raising an eyebrow. Sighing, she walked to the kitchen to check on Cloud. He was already placing the cake mix into the oven and smiled a little when he closed it up and saw her.

"I've set the timer, now you just have to wait." Cloud told her.

"Thanks." Tifa said, beginning to help Cloud pack everything they'd used away. "Reno's here." She added. Cloud stiffened slightly, but continued putting things away.

"Hey, Teef, is it alright if I take Marlene and Denzel to the park?" Reno asked, sticking his head in the kitchen.

"Uh, I guess so. Just check with Renee and Ben." Tifa replied.

"Kay, thanks!" Reno grinned and disappeared again.

"Tifa, about Marlene..." Cloud began slowly, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Yeah? She's cute isn't she?" Tifa smiled. "She talks all the time about her father."

"Oh, so..." Cloud didn't really know how to ask his question. "Are you babysitting or something?" he finally asked. Tifa laughed.

"I guess you could say that." She shrugged, and then her expression became a bit sadder. "I just, I don't even know if her father's coming back."

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked. His fear from before had completely gone, and now he found himself strangely worried about this child he didn't know.

"Well, he said he needed to work some stuff out about life. He said he'd done some pretty bad things and wanted to figure out what he was going to do before trying to look after someone other than just himself." Tifa sighed. "Just, the way he said it made it sound like he wasn't coming back."

"I hope he does." Cloud said quietly. "She needs him." Tifa nodded slowly in agreement.

"Anyway, she's enjoying Denzel's company." She swiftly moved the conversation towards a happier topic.

"What's the story with him?" Cloud asked.

"Oh, he came with Renee and Ben, the couple." Tifa explained. Cloud took the information in, nodding absent-mindedly.

"Renee knows who I am." Cloud said quietly. Tifa looked over at him curiously.

"Really? Did she say how?" she asked.

"No. I didn't tell her she was right." Cloud shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh." Tifa fell silent and leant against the bench, staring at the cake in the oven.

"She might be from ShinRa." Cloud said. "I couldn't risk her knowing who I was."

"Cloud, I doubt anyone from ShinRa survived to be able to come find you." Tifa sighed. Cloud frowned, fixing her with a stare.

"What?" he asked, his voice betraying his disbelief at what she'd just said. Tifa looked up and saw his expression.

"You mean you..." she trailed off and then shook her head slowly. Quickly, she filled him in on what had happened to ShinRa.

"Tainted mako?" Cloud asked.

"That's what people say." Tifa shrugged. "I just can't believe you didn't know. That's why you hid for so long isn't it? You thought they were still looking for you."

"Yeah." Cloud agreed.

"It was very brave of you to come looking for me, then." Tifa said quietly.

"I couldn't stand not knowing if you were okay." Cloud said.

"It was still brave." Tifa said, a bit firmer than before.

"Teefs!" Tifa and Cloud jumped as Reno poked his head in again. "Renee and Ben said it was fine. Wanna come?"

"Oh, thanks but I really have to keep an eye on the cake so it doesn't burn." Tifa said.

"Cloud could watch it." Reno pointed out, looking over at Cloud and raising an eyebrow.

"Reno, just take the kids to the park." Tifa said quietly, not wanting them to start an argument.

"Fine." Reno said, leaving as abruptly as he had come. Tifa sighed sadly and simply shrugged when Cloud looked over at her.

"Things are pretty complicated now..." she whispered.


	20. Chapter 20

"I can stay down at the church if you want me to, Tifa. It's not a big deal." Cloud said, trying to get the message through Tifa's head.

"Cloud, no. Reno's just trying to get you away from me! He's got his own place to stay. A proper home not like the church." Tifa retorted. Cloud frowned slightly.

"You..." he shook his head slightly and didn't say anything else.

"I what?" Tifa asked, her tone of voice gently prying for information. Cloud shifted uncomfortably and shrugged.

"You make it sound like you don't want me away from you." he explained softly.

The two of them stood silently for a while, neither one knowing quite what to say to the other. Cloud felt like he'd stepped out of line and Tifa felt like she was being far too obvious for her own good. Finally she cleared her throat.

"I guess, I honestly don't." she began slowly. "After everything that's happened, I guess I just don't want you to go away again." Cloud turned his head to look at her and then looked at the floor again.

"Then I'm not going anywhere." he said. His voice was still soft, but firm now too. Tifa nodded and left the room to find Reno. He was telling Marlene and Denzel to go to bed.

"Hey, Teefs. So what room am I staying in?" he asked, turning to her. His attention had immediately left the children as soon as she walked in.

"Um, Reno, there's really nowhere left." Tifa explained. "I'm sorry, but Cloud has nowhere else to go and neither do Renee and Ben."

"Hmm. Okay." Reno nodded. His eyes suddenly lit up and he beamed. "Wanna see a movie?"

"What?"

"Let's go see a movie tonight!" Reno grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the room towards the front door.

"Reno, wait, stop!" Tifa almost laughed. "What's going on in that crazy little head of yours?" she asked.

"Firstly, I'm not crazy. Secondly, my head is _not_ small. Thirdly, I wanna watch a movie with you!" Reno added a whine to the end of his sentence and gave Tifa his best puppy-dog eyes. She sighed, staring at him with a look that clearly stated she wasn't sure about it.

"I don't-"

"Cloud won't mind if I steal you for one night." Reno murmured. "He's had you practically all his life."

Tifa glanced over her shoulder, suddenly glad that her childhood friend had already gone upstairs. Looking back over at Reno, she rolled her eyes and gave in.

"Fine! But I'm warning you- don't try anything." she turned and walked off to grab her bag and gil, and Reno grinned as he waited for her. When she came back to him he took her bag off her.

"Pull out your gil." he said. Tifa frowned but unzipped her bag while in his hands and took her gil out.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

"Now put your gil down somewhere and then we can go." Reno said, refusing to answer her question.

"Reno, I need to pay for a ticket if I want to see a movie." Tifa said, raising an eyebrow.

"No you don't. You just need a guy to buy one for you. Now put it down already." Reno sighed, obviously anxious to get going. Tifa's expression became uncertain for a moment before she walked over to put her gil on a bench.

Reno smiled and led her out. The cinema wasn't far from the bar, so they decided to walk.

~~*~~

Cloud sat on his bed in the office, listening intently to the conversation going on downstairs. He might not be a SOLDIER, but he wasn't exactly what you'd call normal either. He could hear every word said downstairs perfectly, including the kids whispering about how they'd just play a little bit longer and if someone came and told them off, _then_ they'd go to bed. They were in perfect agreement.

Cloud ran a hand through his hair gently and then paused, turning his head to the side slightly. He lowered his hand to his lap and stayed perfectly still, listening to every noise there was and locating what it was he had thought he'd heard.

Footsteps. At the back of the house. He listened harder, squinting his eyes slightly in concentration as he tried to figure out what was going on. He could hear steady breathing, but he didn't know whether it belonged to the figure outside or one of the people inside.

There was a click, and Cloud was sure he'd heard that noise somewhere before. Where from? Why was it familiar?

He began feeling nauseous, and quickly listened to find out where everyone else was. The kids were still playing with their toys in a room close to the front of the house. Renee and Ben were closer to the back door, talking in low voices about- him?

"I just know it's him, I know it!" Renee was saying.

"Should we go up and talk to him?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. He seemed reluctant to let anyone know who he was. What if ShinRa's looking for him?" Renee's voice quivered and Cloud heard the sounds of Ben pulling her into a hug.

"It's okay, Renee. If he's our son, we'll find out sooner or later. Maybe we should wait until the morning to talk to him about it again." Ben soothed.

"O-okay." Renee said, her voice slightly muffled.

Cloud stared at the floor, his eyes wide and knuckles white from clutching the edge of the bed. They thought he was their son? But his parents had died in a car accident when he was little, and their names hadn't been Renee and Ben.

"I hate them." Renee whispered. "How could they do this to us? Give our son away like some pet..." her voice broke off into sobs and Ben continued his soothing.

Cloud's head suddenly snapped up and he was propelling himself off the bed towards the door. He began running, desperate to get downstairs as soon as possible. He felt like he was having a nightmare where he couldn't run as fast as he wanted to. He could hear the breathing from outside speeding up slightly.

"Renee! Ben! Run!"

Two loud gunshots went off and Cloud almost crashed into something as he ran. He reached the back room and didn't stop to check on the bodies as he sprinted outside and tackled the figure onto the ground before they could escape.

The two wrestled for a while, fighting for the gun. Whoever it was that Cloud had pinned finally managed to grab hold of it again and twisted, firing one last shot.


	21. Chapter 21

"What was that?" Tifa gasped, turning around to face the way they'd come. Reno dropped his arm from her shoulders and stepped to the side slightly, staring at the ground.

"Sounded like someone was playing with a gun." he muttered.

"It sounded close to the bar! We should go back!" Tifa said, already hurrying forward. She paused and turned to look at Reno. He was hunched slightly, his hands in his pockets and digging the toe of one shoe into the ground.

"Go check then." he said quietly.

"Reno? What's wrong?" Tifa walked back to him and put a hand gently on his shoulder. He jerked away suddenly, eyes flaring up angrily as he backed away.

"Don't touch me." he spat.

"Reno?" Tifa stared at him in confusion and sadness, wondering what on earth was going on.

"Trust me, Tifa. Just go home." he lowered his eyes to the ground and stood there awkwardly.

"Reno if you don't tell me what's going on right now I'll never talk to you ever again." Tifa said sternly, narrowing her eyes slightly. Reno didn't say anything for a moment, but then he looked up again and there was a strange smile on his face.

"You'll be better off not talking to me." he said. Sighing, he turned and walked off.

Tifa stared after him, trying to figure out what was going on and what was wrong. Shaking her head lightly, she turned and began running back towards the bar.

~~*~~

Marlene and Denzel stared down at the two bodies on the floor of the back room. There was blood already in a pool around them both.

"What- what happened?" Marlene asked, her voice quivering. The back door was open, swinging slightly on its hinges. Denzel's eyes widened and he grabbed Marlene's arm firmly.

"Look." he whispered. In the back yard, a dark shape was slowly standing up and turning to face them. There wasn't enough light to make out any features. Marlene whimpered slightly.

"We're gonna die!" she whispered.

"C'mon!" Denzel quickly pulled her away from the back door and away from the bodies, leading her to the front door.

"Marlene? Denzel? What's going on?" Tifa asked, grabbing them each by one shoulder as she met them at the door.

"He's gonna kill us!" Marlene flung herself into Tifa's arms and sobbed. Tifa's eyes widened and she looked down at Denzel. The boy's jaw was clenched and his hands were small fists at his sides.

"He killed Renee, Ben and Cloud." Denzel mumbled. Tifa gasped, but the sound came out half choked. She hurriedly reached forward to grab Denzel as well, including him in the hug.

"Hello?" A voice called out through the house and Tifa looked up, gasping and tightening her grip on the children slightly.

~~*~~

"The mission's complete as far as I know." Reno slammed the door shut behind him and stalked over to a chair, slouching as he sat on it.

"Excellent. Now all we have to do is wait to hear the words from the horses mouth."

"That's right." Reno grunted.

"Is something the matter Reno?"

"No, everything is wonderfully perfect, sir." Reno scoffed.

"You've gotten yourself attached."

Reno stared at the floor and sighed loudly. "President Shinra, sir, you know where my loyalties lie."

"Clearly." Rufus Shinra rearranged his position on the lounge and tried to shift his bandages a little. "Otherwise you would've done something stupid, like, I don't know... help your friends _hide_!" He spat the last word out and Reno winced slightly, turning his head in the opposite direction.

Rufus Shinra had gotten pretty bashed up two years ago when the soldier's attacked. The few that had come for him had included fire in their assault and he was finally almost healed from the burns, cuts, bruises and broken bones. The turks that had defended him and his father had thought he died, although somehow he made it out and was found again by some other turks about to leave in a helicopter.

Rufus Shinra had witnessed his father's death and announced himself the President of ShinRa to the turks who helped him out.

Due to the injuries he had received, he looked as if he had not aged a day since then.

"I had a momentary lapse in common sense." Reno muttered under his breath.

"Rude, go check on Max." Rufus instructed, ignoring Reno's comment. From the corner of the room Rude stepped forward and walked to the door, leaving.

"Why didn't you ask me to?" Reno asked.

"If I did, you wouldn't come back." Rufus replied casually. Reno narrowed his eyes and shifted even lower in his seat.


	22. Chapter 22

"Tifa?" Cloud rounded the corner, horror in his eyes.

"Cloud!" Tifa had tears streaming down her face and she pushed past the children, throwing herself into his arms. "They said- they said-" Her body shook as she cried, and Cloud held onto her tightly.

"It's okay. No one's going to hurt you." Cloud said quietly. He shifted so he was hugging her with one arm and reached out to pull the children close as well. They gladly moved in.

"What happened?" Tifa asked shakily.

"I don't think you want to know." Cloud muttered.

"Tell me." Tifa ordered. Cloud sighed but nodded slowly.

"It was a turk. They came up to the back door and took out Renee and Ben." he explained.

"So they're really..." Tifa swallowed.

"Yeah." Cloud answered so she wouldn't have to finish her sentence. Tifa reached over to put an arm around Denzel again, hugging him tightly once more.

"Why? Why would anyone want to kill them?" Tifa asked, tears still running down her cheeks.

Cloud stayed quiet for a while. He was thinking through everything that had happened and that he had found out. How could Renee and Ben have thought he was their son?

_"How could they do this to us? Give our son away like some pet..."_

What did they mean by giving him away? He hadn't been given to anyone... had he? Were they talking about how he was sent to the orphanage? Or were they talking about something else?

"They thought I was their son." Cloud mumbled.

"What?" Tifa turned her head to look up at him, confused.

"I heard them talking about it." Cloud explained. "But I don't understand. My parents died in a car crash."

"We'll figure everything out, okay?" Tifa said. Cloud suddenly frowned.

"Where's Reno?" he asked.

"He left. He's been acting really weird lately." Tifa told him.

"Weird how?" Cloud asked sharply.

"Well, when I told him Renee and Ben's names..." Tifa froze and her grip tightened on Cloud and Denzel. "He acted really freaked out! And then when I told him you were here he went weird again too, and just when we heard the gunshots he yelled at me and oh gosh Cloud he can't have been involved!" Tifa buried her head against his chest and cried some more, and Cloud tried to calm her down by rubbing her back.

"What happened to the bad guy?" Marlene asked quietly.

"He's dead." Cloud replied.

"You killed him?" Tifa asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. Cloud slowly shook his head.

"He shot himself." he whispered.

"Oh." Tifa looked down again, closing her eyes.

"C'mon." Cloud said, moving back and causing the huddling group to slowly come apart from each other. "Tifa, can you take them out somewhere for a bit? I need to..." he looked over his shoulder and trailed off, hoping she'd understand.

"Sure." Tifa said quietly, putting a hand on each child's shoulder and steering them out the door. "Wanna buy an ice cream, kids?" she asked. They mumbled 'yes's' and Cloud was left alone in the house.

~~*~~

"Sir, Cloud Strife is still alive." Rude reported.

"What!?" Rufus yelled, livid. "Where's Max? I'll kill him!"

"He's dead, sir. Pulled the trigger on himself." Rude explained.

"I see. Obviously he knew that would have been a nicer death than what he would have gotten from me." Rufus sighed, upset.

"Of course." Reno muttered.

"Silence." Rufus snapped.

"Your Royal Pain-in-the-butt, I'll speak when I feel like it." Reno replied with a roll of his eyes. "You see, Rude and I are now your only living _followers_ and there is no way Rude would kill me. Besides, then you'd only have one."

Rude shifted uncomfortably.

"Wonderful point, Reno." Rufus said. "Rude, I think I'd like you to go finish the job, and include Tifa Lockhart on your hit-list. Why don't we just kill the kids too? Do you like the sound of that Reno?"

"Go die." Reno spat angrily.

"I thought so." Rufus replied smugly.

"Uh, excuse me sir," Rude cleared his throat. "Should I scrap that last mission?"

"Oh, yes." Rufus said, waving a hand absent-mindedly.

"Your Royal Highness, do I have permission to go to the bathroom unattended?" Reno asked, turning and giving Rufus a patronising look. Rufus looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Reno, you don't need to ask for that." he said, sounding slightly disgusted.

"Why, thank you your highness!" Reno got up, mock bowed, and left the room.

~~*~~

"Tifa? You guys can come back now if you want." Cloud spoke into his mobile phone, amazed he actually had Tifa's number. No wonder she'd been so mad at him before, having his phone off meant he never even would've known when she tried to call him.

"Thanks, Cloud. Really, I don't know what I would've..." Tifa trailed off, but Cloud understood.

"Then I'll see you guys soon. Maybe we'll all be able to get some sleep." Cloud waited as Tifa replied, agreeing and saying goodbye. He then mumbled a 'bye' as well and hung up.

Turning around, he tensed and immediately reached for his sword which was now on his back. He had gone back to the church quickly to get one off Zack and felt much better now that he had a weapon.

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." Reno said, raising his hands up in defence.

"Who are you working for?" Cloud snapped angrily.

"No one, not any more." Reno lowered his hands and sighed. "Boy do I love bathroom windows." Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Then you must be here to tell me what's going on." he said, ignoring Reno's last comment. "What do you know about Renee and Ben? And why were they wanted dead?"

"You don't know?" Reno asked, his eyes widening.

"Obviously not Reno! Now tell me!" Cloud narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"Okay, okay. Well, Renee and Ben are kind of like... your parents." Reno explained slowly, shrugging slightly to himself. "When you were like, two? Three? They were sent on a mission to investigate Professor Hojo. The records say they died, but when I accessed the 'top secret information' section I found out a lot more.

"It said that when you were born you were given to another couple and Professor Hojo performed some experiments on you. It agreed that your parents went on the mission to investigate Hojo, but it didn't say that they died. It only said that they disappeared. It also said that the reason you were given away was because they had different views on ShinRa and especially what Hojo was doing. I guess it was just to spite them that they let Hojo do stuff to you." Reno finished and winced slightly at Cloud's look of absolute disbelief.

"Are you saying that the parents I remember aren't my real parents?" he asked slowly.

"Uh, yeah I guess so." Reno scratched his head nervously.

"And I had experiments done on me when I was little? What did they do?"

"I don't know. I couldn't access the details for the experiments. It was asking for some sort of password or something." Reno shrugged. Cloud was silent for a moment, thinking over everything Reno had just told him.

"Okay, so why were they wanted dead?" Cloud asked again.

"They found out something about Hojo that no one was supposed to know." Reno frowned slightly. "I'm not sure, I think they knew too much or something."

"And who wants them dead?"

"Uh," Reno stopped and looked down, his face showing the battle going on within him.

"Reno, you made that decision when you came here." Cloud said gently. Reno took a deep breath and looked up at him again, nodding.

"Rufus Shinra. He survived."

"I see. And you were working for him before?" Cloud asked just to double check.

"Well, yeah." Reno avoided Cloud's eyes, looking guilty. "But now it's just him and Rude. There was Max, but you know what happened to him." Reno gestured towards the back yard. Cloud nodded slowly, and then turned his head towards the door as he heard voices.

"I don't think you should let her see you straight away." Cloud had lowered his voice to a whisper, and he took his hand off his sword.

"You're probably right." Reno sighed and turned to go to another room in the house. Cloud walked over and opened the door to let Tifa, Marlene and Denzel inside.


	23. Chapter 23

"Hey, thanks so much." Tifa said as she walked in, smiling sadly.

"No worries." Cloud said, giving Marlene and Denzel a half smile. Denzel lowered his head, taking quick, short breaths. "Hey, it's okay to cry." Cloud put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Why aren't you crying?" the boy challenged, refusing to look up.

"I... didn't know them very well." Cloud admitted softly.

"Me neither." Denzel whimpered. Without saying anything else, he rushed forward and clung onto Cloud, refusing to let go. Bending slightly, Cloud picked him up and carried him off to his room, Tifa following with Marlene.

As Cloud put Denzel to bed, Tifa worked beside him tucking Marlene in.

"All they wanted to do was find you." Denzel murmured against his covers.

"What?" Cloud asked, frowning slightly.

"They wanted to find you. That's why they came here in the first place." Denzel said, lifting his head slightly so that his words were clearer. Cloud stayed silent for a moment as he looked down at him, then he ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about it. Just get some sleep, okay?" Denzel nodded and rolled over, closing his eyes.

Tifa and Cloud left the room quietly and headed to the kitchen where Tifa told Cloud she'd make them some hot chocolate.

"Tifa, I need to tell you something." Cloud began softly as Tifa got out the mugs.

"What is it?" she asked, turning to glance at him and then going back to what she was doing.

"Reno's here." He noticed Tifa's flinch and moved slightly closer to her. "He's on our side."

"You spoke to him?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, and he wants to help us." Quickly Cloud told her what Reno had told him, watching her reactions to it all as he spoke.

Taking a deep breath, Tifa nodded slowly. "Do you believe him?"

"Yes."

"Then I do too." Tifa handed Cloud one of the mugs and smiled slightly, trying to look convincing.

"I'll protect you Tifa. I promise." Cloud said, not taking his eyes from hers as he showed her the raw truth in them.

"I know, Cloud." Tifa said softly, her smile wavering. Cloud moved towards her again, reaching to place his mug down on the bench behind her. She stared up at him, a small blush creeping into her cheeks at his closeness.

"I promise I will never let anyone hurt you." he said, placing his hand cautiously on her shoulder.

"Cloud..." Tifa whispered, her breathing speeding up. Biting her lip nervously, she put a hand on his chest and leaned up. She saw a flicker of disbelief cross Cloud's face before she closed her eyes.

"Ahem."

Hurriedly stepping back, Cloud turned away from Tifa to face Reno. Tifa turned her head to the side, staring at the ground as her face flamed up into a colour that was close to that of Reno's own hair.

"I explained everything to her." Cloud said quickly, not wanting to allow the moment to become too awkward for anyone.

"I see." Reno said, leaning against the doorpost and folding his arms.

"For now, we should probably just get some sleep." Cloud said, turning back to pick up his mug of hot chocolate again. Instead of keeping it, he handed it to Reno and then walked out of the room.

Tifa turned around to face the bench and sipped nervously at her own drink. She felt awful for Reno, as he obviously liked her as well, but she also felt terrible for actually trying to kiss Cloud. He had walked off so quickly. Did he really like her in that way or not?

"Tifa, you have to believe I didn't want this to happen." Reno said. The position of his voice informed her that he hadn't moved from where he was standing. Her thoughts hurried to catch up with what he was talking about.

"I... I know. It's okay, Reno." she said quietly.

"I'd take it back if I could." he added.

"So would I." Slowly she turned around to face him, still with a slight blush on her face. "Reno, why didn't you tell me?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Reno asked, pushing away from the doorpost so he was standing upright. "If I told you, I would've had to stay and not go back there at all. If I'd gone back, they would've killed me! That's why I didn't tell you! Because I hadn't made up my mind yet! I'm a stupid turk who's had the loyalty lecture one too many times and seriously believes he's doing something stupid by betraying his team!"

Tifa stared at Reno, and he stared back at her. What could she say to that? Was there _anything_ she could say?

"Reno, I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry. I am too. I shouldn't have gotten all fired up." Reno quickly downed his now lukewarm hot chocolate and put the mug on the bench, shooting a glance at Tifa again before walking out as well.

~~*~~

Cloud hadn't slept at all as he had been constantly worrying about whether or not someone would come back to finish the job or to find Reno. He had simply stayed up, allowing his thoughts to run away with him as he dwelt on everything that had happened since he left to join SOLDIER.

He had thought about Tifa, and how whenever he was around bad things tended to happen to her. He had followed her up the mountain – she fell from the rope bridge and went into a coma; he joined SOLDIER – she came to find him and was exposed to many of their horrors; he came to find her after being gone for two years – two murders occur at her house.

Everything was his fault, and by being here he was only making it worse. Tifa had made it clear that she liked him by what she had done in the kitchen. That would make it hard for him when he tried to leave, but he would be able to do it.

He had to do it. For her.

"Cloud?" Cloud looked up sharply, meeting the gaze of Denzel who stood in the doorway. "Are you coming down for breakfast?" the boy asked, his eyes still overcast with sadness.

"Yeah. I am." Cloud stood up from sitting on the edge of his bed and walked over to Denzel, putting a hand on his shoulder and walking with him down to the table.

"I hope you like bacon and eggs." Tifa said, putting a plate with said food on it on the table in front of Cloud.

"Thanks." Cloud said, nodding slightly. He caught Tifa's eyes for a moment and quickly looked down again as he saw the blush on her own face.

"It looks great!" Marlene said.

"Thanks, honey." Tifa smiled, grabbing her own plate and sitting down next to the girl.

"I was wondering if you'd ever show some signs of life." Reno muttered across to Cloud.

"I wonder who's fault that would be if I didn't." Cloud shot back, and instantly regretted it, glancing over to Tifa and then looking down again.

There was silence for a while as everyone ate their own food and kept to their own thoughts, but eventually Tifa broke it as she stood up.

"I'll um, start the water for the dishes to be washed in." she said as she turned and walked into the kitchen. Cloud and Reno both glanced at each other before taking their dirty dishes to the kitchen as well. On his way, Reno took Marlene and Denzel's too.

"Here, I brought the kids' stuff." Reno said to Tifa as he put them down next to the sink.

"Thanks." Tifa said, turning the taps on and putting the plug into the sink.

"I'll be in the office." Cloud said, putting his bowl down as well and then leaving. Shaking his head slightly as he climbed the stairs, he told himself firmly that if he avoided her as much as possible it would be easier when he left.


	24. Chapter 24

Zack and Aerith were walking through the marketplace without disguises for the first time. They had bought some extra things on the spur of the moment and were having a nice day out.

"Aerith! Check these out!" Zack said, ducking into another little shop that was set up at the side. She laughed, following after him, and the two of them were soon engrossed in more things for sale.

"Zack?" Aerith asked quietly, tapping him on the arm as she stared out the window of the small shop.

"Hmm?" he asked, turning to her.

"Do you know her?" she asked innocently, gesturing towards where a girl with soft red curls stood out in the crowd of the marketplace. "She was staring at you before. Zack?" Aerith frowned slightly and looked back up at Zack. He was staring at the girl, his eyes bulging out of his head and his jaw open in shock.

"Cissnei!?" he gasped finally, finding his voice. Moving from Aerith's side, he was almost out the door before he stopped. Aerith hurried up to him again. "What if she's looking for us? Maybe she... but then... okay I don't know what to do!" Zack turned to Aerith, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Zack, who is she?" Aerith asked.

"She's a turk. From ShinRa." Zack said. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair.

"Does that mean..." Aerith murmured.

"I don't know." Zack said, shaking his head. "She was always really nice to me."

"Zaaack, you're making me jealous!" Aerith giggled. Zack smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Don't worry, you're the only one for me." he said.

"And you for me." Aerith replied, blushing slightly.

"Zack?" The two spun, stunned, to face Cissnei as she stood in the doorway to the small shop. "I... I need to talk to you. Is that okay?"

Zack stared at her, thinking quickly in his head whether or not he was going to trust her, and then he nodded slowly.

"We should go somewhere quieter." he said. Cissnei nodded gratefully and the three of them walked off to find somewhere to talk without being overheard.

~~*~~

Cloud frowned slightly, reaching to pull his phone from his pocket. It would take some getting used to being called.

"Zack?" he asked, having looked at the caller ID.

"Cloud, we need to talk. You still with Tifa?" Zack asked from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah. Come right over." Cloud replied, feeling a red tinge appear in his cheeks at the way Zack's question had come out.

"Kay, thanks." Zack hung up and Cloud followed suit, putting his phone back in his pocket. He wondered what was so urgent that Zack wanted to talk to him about. Did it have something to do with Rufus Shinra? Were other people being killed because of him too?

Heading downstairs, Cloud frowned slightly as he heard the sounds of Marlene and Denzel laughing. It wasn't them that had him slightly upset; it was the fact that he could hear Reno laughing and talking to them.

"Tifa?" Cloud walked straight to the kitchen, and found her tidying some things up. "Zack's going to be coming over soon, is that okay?"

Tifa looked and smiled, nodding. "That's fine!"

"Cool." Cloud nodded slowly, not sure what he should say next.

"Cloud..." Tifa said softly. He waited, watching her as she shifted nervously. "I don't want to sound controlling or anything like that, but, would you be able to try and get along with Reno? I mean, you're the one who told me he wanted to help in the first place." Tifa stopped, wondering whether what she had said had been too harsh or something.

"I'm sorry about before." Cloud sighed, looking down sadly. "I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Hey kids! What's up?" Reno walked in, Marlene and Denzel tagging along behind him. Cloud looked over, a glare already automatically on his face. Tifa nudged him and he looked down, trying not to look at the red-head who seemed so perfect for her.

"Not much." Tifa said softly. "Cloud said Zack's coming over soon."

"Oh?" Reno raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cloud who still refused to look up. "Wonder if he's gonna drag you back into hiding?"

"If he does he'll drag us all." Cloud finally looked up, his gaze an obvious challenge directed at Reno. The turk took a small involuntary step backwards.

"You're probably right." Reno said, his voice softer and more thoughtful.

"Do you think we should?" Tifa was looking at Cloud now, her eyes giving away the fear she felt.

"You... might need to." Cloud winced slightly and looked away, hoping she wouldn't notice that he hadn't included himself in that statement. He'd never know, because Reno spoke up before she could say anything.

"What about you?" he asked, folding his arms. "Don't think you're not coming if we have to."

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, confused.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Cloud said truthfully. He would have preferred to spring the idea on them right before it happened so they'd have no chance to object.

"Hey! Yoohoo! Cloud?" Following the sudden voice from the front door came loud knocking.

"That's Zack." Cloud said, pushing past Reno and walking straight to the door. He opened it and let his dark-haired friend in, closing the door behind him again.

"Hey, Cloud." Zack said. "If I've got some like, pretty intense and possibly secret information to tell you, is it okay for them to hear or do you want to go somewhere else?" Zack gestured at where Reno, Tifa and the kids were slowly filing into the room.

"Um," Cloud paused, wondering what answer he would give. "Let's go somewhere else."

Zack nodded. "Hey Tifa! Sorry we didn't really get much time to talk before, we didn't really know that ShinRa was gone. Anywho! Let's go share secrets!" Zack grabbed Cloud's arm and dragged him about five steps before stopping and chuckling nervously. "Uh, where should we go?" Cloud rolled his eyes.

"This way."

"Right on!" Zack followed as his blonde friend lead him upstairs and away from everyone else.

"Why do I have a feeling Zack's overly hyper because he knows something _really_ bad?" Reno asked, sidling over to Tifa.

"Yeah..." Tifa nodded in agreement slowly. "I got the same feeling."


	25. Chapter 25

"Uh, what exactly do you remember about the day we went to Nibelheim looking for Genesis?" Zack asked cautiously, bouncing ever-so-slightly as he sat on the edge of Cloud's make-shift bed in the office. Cloud frowned slightly and shrugged.

_"Is that what you really think? I was just a burden that kept getting into trouble and you had to keep helping?"_

"Tifa, I didn't mean-"

"Stop it! I finally understand, okay? You've never liked me. That's why you never wrote and you never took my calls. Maybe that's even why you left in the first place; just to get away from me."

Cloud pushed away his thoughts of the argument between himself and Tifa, concentrating on recalling the information of what else happened.

"Genesis and Sephiroth went up to the reactor. Uh, Sephiroth kept talking about 'mother' and... he fell of the platform." Cloud described sketchily.

"Okay." Zack nodded thoughtfully, biting his bottom lip as he sunk into his thoughts for a moment. He continued his bouncing, looking to Cloud like he was a little kid trying to suppress his excitement on Christmas Eve as his parents put him to bed.

"Zack, just tell me what's going on." Cloud said, desperate for Zack to hurry up and spill the beans. If he had to wait any longer, he just might explode from suspense.

"Yeah hang on, Spiky. Just thinking about how exactly to say it." Zack said, waving a hand at his friend and continuing to stare at the floor with glazed eyes. Cloud rolled his eyes but didn't say anything, knowing that, sadly, if he kept urging Zack on it would only take longer.

"Okay! Spike. So like Cissnei walks up to me and she's like 'hey can we talk'-" Zack stopped and frowned. "Yeah that's not what I meant to say first. Hmm."

Cloud almost reached over and choked the guy. What was he going on about? Cissnei? Who was that?

"Take two." Zack said, grinning stupidly. "So I'm taking Aerith shopping and she's all like 'who's the chick that keeps staring at you?' and I'm all like 'what chick where?'" Cloud almost face-palmed, but found that he had much more self-control than he had thought.

"And?" he asked.

"So then I see Cissnei 'cause Aerith points her out to me, right?" Zack frowned slightly again but continued. "Then Cissnei comes over and what I said before, she's like 'can we talk?'"

"Who's Cissnei?" Cloud asked quickly, knowing that if he didn't interrupt to ask questions throughout the explanation he'd reach the end and have so many questions he wouldn't remember them all.

"She's a turk. Like Reno." Zack said. Cloud tensed up, suddenly more aware of everything Zack was saying and willing to wait even longer than before in order to get the information out. Was Cissnei now working for Rufus too?

"So anyway, we go off and find a place to talk and Cissnei's looking all nervous and stuff, so I tell her to chill out and take it slow." Zack took a deep breath, a slight sweat breaking out on his forehead. "So then she explained to me why she'd come to find me."

"What is it Zack? You can tell me." Cloud said softly.

"Yeah, I know." Zack replied quietly. "I just, wish it wasn't true."

"Zack. Just say it."

"'Kay." Zack nodded. "Cissnei told me that after the fall of ShinRa everyone who escaped sort of turned against each other, not knowing who to trust any more or anything like that. She said a few more people were killed just because of fear, and that no one knew whether President Shinra had made it out or not.

"Then, she said that they all tried to lay low and get a normal job or something so they could live normal lives again. Apparently a lot of normal folk were talking about how a grunt stabbed Sephiroth." Zack grinned a little and Cloud shifted awkwardly. "Anyway, she told me that about a year after it happened, so a year ago, someone approached her and gave her a proposition.

"She didn't like what he was offering, so she tried to say no. He got really angry and threatened her a bit. She didn't go into detail about this part, but she escaped." Zack paused and rubbed his forehead.

"Who was it, Zack?" Cloud asked, slowly but urgently.

"Genesis. He wanted her to get all the remaining turks together so they could help him relocate Sephiroth." Zack said, spitting the major piece of information out in one go.

Cloud stared at him. And blinked.

"Genesis? To find Sephiroth?" he gasped. "Isn't Sephiroth dead?"

"That's what I thought." Zack frowned thoughtfully again. "I don't know what's going on, or where Genesis is right now... but I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"We're not just going to wait around for something to happen. There's something I have to tell you, too." Cloud quickly filled Zack in on what had happened to Renee and Ben and what Reno had told him.

"Well that complicates things." Zack said, scratching his chin.

"It means we have to move now." Cloud said. "I don't know what Rufus is planning on doing, but it can't be good. And if Sephiroth is out there somewhere we've got to find him before Genesis does."

"How are we going to find him?" Zack asked.

"No clue." Cloud shook his head. "But we've got to try."

*

"Cissnei, please, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. You did the right thing in coming to me, understand? And now that you've told me some important information I feel inclined to do the same. Listen. Cloud Strife, once a cadet from ShinRa, has turned evil. He is trying to destroy the planet and is searching for Sephiroth right now. He has brainwashed Reno and they are now working together.

"I'm not positive, but I think Cloud's friend Zack is working with him too, along with some others. You need to trust me. All I want is to protect the planet from everyone trying to hurt it. Cissnei, dear, I want to stop Genesis."

Cissnei nodded and squared her shoulders, going back to turk mode. Rufus smiled smugly and leant back in his chair, pleased that she wasn't questioning him.

Rude continued to stay motionless in the corner, not moving or talking unless he was asked to do something or spoken to. Rufus felt a little self-conscious about him; he wasn't sure who's side he was on but didn't want to question it because Rude was a very good fighter and he wanted to keep him. Voicing it out loud just might make the tall, silent man decide to leave.

Especially since his partner of quite some time had decided to leave.

Out the bathroom window.

The _bathroom window_. Of all places.

Rufus Shinra was, to say the least, peeved about Reno's little escape. He knew Reno's loyalty lay more with the girl Tifa than it did with him, but he didn't think that Reno would _actually_ leave his partner behind.

"Sir? Is there anything I can do?" Cissnei asked politely. "I just... I can't stand around doing nothing."

"Of course. There should be things in the kitchen to do." Rufus said.

"Thank you, sir." Cissnei said, turning and walking to the kitchen.

Rufus sighed and leant his head on his hand, wondering how he was going to pull this off with only two people working for him. Perhaps he should ask Cissnei to get in contact with the other turks she knew about that had survived.

But once he found Sephiroth, he just _knew_ he'd be able to do anything he wanted.


	26. Chapter 26

After Cloud and Zack filled Tifa and Reno in on everything they now knew, they all sat down at the table to discuss it further. Marlene and Denzel had gone off to play in their room so they wouldn't interrupt them.

"We have to find Sephiroth." Cloud said.

"If I was Sephiroth, where would I go?" Zack thought aloud. "Hmm, probably to a modelling agency." He looked around at the others eagerly, wondering if he'd made a break through.

"And _that's_ why you're not Sephiroth." Cloud mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"So... not even close?" Zack asked, pouting.

"Not even close." Cloud agreed.

"Come on, we need to think seriously about this." Tifa said, shooting an unimpressed look at Zack. He just gave a what-are-you-looking-at-me-for-? expression back.

"Didn't he ramble about 'mother' a lot, yo?" Reno asked.

"Yeah," Cloud muttered, nodding. "But I don't even understand what all that was about." He looked at Zack, hoping his friend would have a better idea of what the General could've been talking about.

"Well, he was talking to something at the reactor, but you saw more of that than I did." Zack answered Cloud's unspoken question.

"Yeah..." Cloud frowned in thought. "He kept calling it mother and took it with him when he fell of the platform."

"I wonder what-"

"Jenova!" Cloud said suddenly. "What do you know about Jenova?"

"Uh, she's..." Zack's eyes widened as he clued into what Cloud had figured out. "She's a monster that came to the planet a while ago and Sephiroth thought she was his mother! He thought he was a monster; that's what Genesis told him!"

"How does that bring us closer to finding Sephiroth?" Tifa asked.

Cloud shook his head, "I don't know. But at least we've found some more out about why Sephiroth got angry."

*

Rufus called Cissnei back into the room where he and Rude were, having thought of a mission for her to complete.

"I want you to call Reno." Rufus said, handing her a piece of paper with the red-head's number on it. "Pretend you haven't come to me, because if they find out they won't trust you."

"Yes, sir." Cissnei said.

"I want you to ask him what they've found out about Genesis and Sephiroth." Rufus shifted in his seat and winced slightly as one of his unhealed wounds were rubbed.

"I'll find out for you, sir." Cissnei said, pulling her PHS out of her pocket and typing the number in.

*

"Woah, one sec, yo." Reno interrupted the group, holding a hand up and pulling his phone out of his pocket. It was one of the latest models and he treasured it greatly. "Yo?"

"Reno, it's Cissnei. Did Zack find you?"

"Yeah, yeah he's right here!" Reno nodded, dropping his hand back down.

"Oh good." Reno heard her breathe a sigh of relief. "So you know what's going on?"

"Yeah. He told us." Reno said. "But we haven't figured out too much yet. We don't know where Sephiroth would've gone."

"Okay. Um, could you tell me when you have? I just feel so nervous about it all, seeing as Genesis came to me specifically. Reno, what if he comes to find me again?"

"Hey, relax yo." Reno said. "You're gonna be fine. I'll call you when-" he paused slightly and raised an eyebrow as Cloud connected something to the end of his phone, but kept talking as Cloud gestured for him to. "...when we find out more."

"Thanks, Reno."

"Don't worry about it." Reno shrugged. Cloud mouthed 'keep talking' so Reno rolled his eyes and tried to think of something to say. "Hey, is your hair still the length it always has been?"

"Um, yeah." Reno chuckled as he heard the slight confusion in her voice.

"Okay, just wondering. I'm a curious guy, yo!" Reno laughed loudly and then quietened down at Tifa's raised eyebrow.

"Just, don't forget to tell me when you've found something out." Cissnei repeated.

"Of course, I won't." Reno said, frowning slightly as to why she was _this_ paranoid. She was an ex-turk wasn't she? Oh well.

Cloud held up a hand and slowly counted down with his fingers until he reached zero. He then nodded and gestured that Reno could hang up.

"Right, well I should probably go." Reno said.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then." Cissnei replied.

"Yep, see ya!" Reno hung up and then instantly slammed his hands down on the tabled. "What the heck didja do?"

"I traced where she was calling from." Cloud said.

"Why?" Zack asked. "She's not one of the bad guys!"

"Anyone know this address?" Cloud passed the GPS tracking system he was holding around the small group and raised an eyebrow as Reno held onto it a bit longer than everyone else. "Where is she Reno?"

Reno looked up at Cloud and then sighed, shaking his head. "She's with Rufus."

*

"Excellent." Rufus said, thoroughly pleased that Cissnei had not lost her touch as a turk. "Now, there's one last important thing I need you to do for me."

"What is it, sir?"

"I need you to tell me, do you know where Genesis is?" Cissnei shook her head and Rufus narrowed his eyes. "He didn't tell you where to find him if you changed your mind?"

"Well..." Cissnei paused as a shiver ran down her spine. "He said he'd know if I changed my mind. He never told me where to find him."

"I see." Rufus sat in silence, pondering over this new information. He opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted as the door flung open and a figure dressed in red walked in briskly, kicking the door shut behind himself.

"Good, you've decided to bring all the turks together in order to help me." they stated firmly, coming over and only pausing when Rude appeared in front with his Electro-Mag Rod extended threateningly.

"Let him through, Rude." Rufus said. Rude glanced over his shoulder and then relaxed, stepping to the side.

"How kind of you." Genesis Rhapsodos said, smiling slightly. "I believe you understand what I want?"

"Yes, and I want it too." Rufus said.

Cissnei glanced between Rufus and Genesis, her eyes widening in horror. Why was Rufus allowing him to just walk in here like this? He couldn't possibly want to help him...

"Aren't there more of you?" Genesis asked suddenly, frowning and looking around the room.

"There was one other, but he switched sides." Rufus informed him. Genesis nodded slowly.

"This will have to do."


	27. Chapter 27

"She told me she didn't want Genesis to find Sephiroth." Zack said stubbornly. "And she said she didn't know about any other living Turks."

"Then how did she get Reno's number?" Cloud asked.

"Rufus probably gave it to her." Reno muttered. "He had all our numbers."

"I hate that guy." Zack hissed angrily. "He was always telling me to call him President even though _his father_ was the President and _not him_. But now, apparently, he is!"

"Um, Cloud?" Tifa asked cautiously. Zack snapped out of his rant and looked over. Cloud looked up and nodded for her to continue. "Can I uh, talk to you for a minute?" she jerked her head towards the door and raised an eyebrow, waiting. Cloud frowned but nodded and stood up.

"Sure." he said.

The two of them walked from the room and Tifa shut the door behind them, obviously not wanting the others to hear what they were going to be talking about. Her hands came together and she twisted them nervously, refusing to look at his face.

"Tifa, what's wrong?" Cloud asked, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Cloud I-" Tifa shook her head and frowned, not knowing how to say what she wanted to say. Then she squared her shoulders and looked up into his eyes. "You're going to go off and look for Sephiroth."

Cloud stared right back into her eyes, as if trying to see the real meaning behind her question, and then he nodded.

"Yes." he said. "I'm going to look for Sephiroth and-"

"The kids. They need a father." Tifa blurted out. Cloud stiffened and let go of her shoulder.

"Reno will probably still be around." he shrugged.

"Cloud! Why do you have to be so dense?" Tifa snapped, and then quickly lowered her voice again. " I love you Cloud! I always have! And I know you love me too. I can't even imagine having you leave me again when there's the possibility of you never coming back. I... I need you, Cloud."

"Tifa, what about Reno?" Cloud asked gently.

"I don't... I don't love him as much as I love you." she whispered.

"Tifa..." Cloud murmured, pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry, I really am, but I _have_ to go looking for Sephiroth. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I don't want the kids getting involved in this either. They might get hurt." Tifa mumbled against his shirt.

"I promise I'll protect you all." Cloud said firmly.

"Cloud, I'm just so scared for you. What if Sephiroth does something to you? Or Genesis? What if Genesis finds Sephiroth first and they hurt you in some way?" Tifa said, worried.

"Tifa, someone has to find them and make sure they don't hurt other people." Cloud said softly.

"Why does it have to be you?" Tifa asked sadly.

"I won't be alone, Tifa. I'll have Zack with me; maybe Reno if he wants to come. Listen, Tifa..." Cloud paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I love you. I'll come back."

Pushing Tifa back slowly so that he could see her face, he gave a small smile and then bent his head to hers, kissing her.

*

Walking back into the room where the others were, Cloud and Tifa remained silent as they sat down in their previous seats. Reno and Zack looked at them with raised eyebrows but didn't ask about what they'd been saying.

"So, how are we going to find Sephiroth?" Zack asked.

"Maybe we should wait for Genesis to find him, yo." Reno shrugged.

"We can't. We don't know what Genesis is planning and we don't know whether it would be too late once he's found Sephiroth." Cloud said, shaking his head. "We have to find him first."

"Okay, genius. Where do we begin?" Reno asked.

"I don't know." Cloud sighed.

"Maybe Sephiroth's still somewhere in Nibelheim." Tifa suggested quietly. Cloud looked over at her and nodded, considering it seriously.

"That's a possibility." he agreed.

"And it's pretty much the only thing we've got so far," Zack said. "So are we going to Nibelheim now?"

"Where's Nibelheim, yo?" Reno asked, frowning.

"It's a country town." Cloud said. "I grew up there."

"You're joking!" Reno sat back in his seat, eyes wide. "I'm not going to the country, yo!" Zack and Cloud exchanged a glance and Cloud sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"Reno, do you want to have to sit back here doing nothing but wait around for us to get back?" Zack asked. Reno considered it.

"Well, if I did I'd be able to keep in contact with Cissnei and pretend I'm her friend, yo. Or that we don't know she's with the bad guys." Reno shrugged. "So yeah I'll stay. But can someone else stay too? It'll be weird if they only ever hear from me and don't hear anyone else in the background, yo. They might get suspicious."

"I'm staying, Reno." Tifa said quietly. Reno looked over at her, a bit shocked, and then looked at where Cloud was still staring at the table.

"I see." Reno said cautiously.

"That's a good plan, Reno. You keep them thinking we haven't discovered anything and that we have no idea where to start so that they relax a bit and hopefully take their time with whatever _they're_ planning." Zack said, nodding as he thought it through.

"Aye, aye." Reno mock saluted.

"So when do we leave?" Cloud asked, lifting his head to stare at Zack. The dark-haired SOLDIER shrugged and slouched in his seat.

"I guess as soon as possible. Tonight?" he suggested.

"Yeah, okay." Cloud nodded.

"Do you want Aerith to stay with us?" Tifa asked. Zack looked over at her and nodded, very much liking that idea. He didn't want her to be alone in the church.

"I'll tell her to come over." Zack said, standing and making his way out of the room as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

Tifa, Cloud and Reno sat awkwardly at the table, not knowing what to say to each other. Tifa felt slightly guilty for kissing Cloud and couldn't bear to look at Reno in case he somehow saw the truth in her eyes. Yes, she loved Cloud, but she also felt something smaller for Reno and didn't want him to be hurt by who she had chosen.

"I'll go check on the kids." Tifa said quietly, pushing back from the table and leaving the room.

Cloud remained silent, staring at the table and not looking at Reno. He didn't want to have to look at the red-head's face and know that _he_ was going to be staying behind with Tifa.

"Cloud, I'm not going to do anything, yo." Reno said quietly, breaking the silence between them. Cloud raised his head and, reluctantly, met Reno's gaze with his own. "She loves you Cloud. It's obvious."

Cloud frowned, not really believing the words he had just heard come out of Reno's mouth. He couldn't possibly be giving up this soon, could he? Maybe he was just saying this to make Cloud relax so that he would have an easier time of stealing her away again. Maybe-

_No._ Cloud shook his head minutely and forced himself to stop thinking such horrible things about the Turk.

"Cloud?" Reno asked, hesitant.

"It's okay, Reno. I trust you." Those were the words that came out of his mouth and startled him to the core. He was talking to a Turk. How could he trust a Turk? For all he knew, Reno could have already secretly texted Cissnei back to let her know they knew about her, and was planning on telling her everything once he and Zack were in Nibelheim.

"Thanks." Reno said, looking away and shifting uncomfortably.

Cloud sighed again and leant his head in his hand, wishing that things didn't have to be so difficult. Would they find Sephiroth? And if they did, _what if they didn't make it back?_

"Reno, if I don't survive this," Cloud murmured. "Those kids are still going to need a father." Reno stared at the blonde man in absolute shock.

"Cloud-"

"I'm serious." Cloud said firmly. "I know what it's like to grow up without one. They don't deserve that."

Reno couldn't think of anything to say in response and only managed to nod. Cloud seemed satisfied and some of the tension left his body, leaving him looking more relaxed.

Tifa walked back into the room and sat down, glancing from one to the other as if making sure they hadn't tried to kill each other while she was gone.

"The kids are fine." she said.

"Good." Cloud replied.

Reno remained silent, the weight of what Cloud had said to him feeling heavier since Tifa had come back. He felt immensely guilty, as if he should tell her right now and get it out in the open what had been confided in him.

Cloud didn't think he was going to make it back.


	28. Chapter 28

"Aerith's on her way." Zack said as he bounded back into the room and almost took his chair to the floor in his excitement to sit down again. Everyone jumped visibly at his sudden arrival and he grinned apologetically.

"Cissnei shouldn't have reason to suspect anything with so many people staying." Cloud commented. "Including the kids there'll be five."

"That's true." Zack nodded.

"Are you going to begin looking in Nibelheim then?" Tifa asked curiously. Cloud glanced at Zack and the dark-haired man nodded.

"We don't have any other ideas yet, so that's where we'll start. We might even stumble across or clue or something when we're there." Zack explained.

"Yeah, hopefully Sephiroth's staying somewhere in Nibelheim so it'll be easier to track him down." Cloud agreed.

"What if Genesis already tried looking in Nibelheim?" Tifa questioned. Cloud frowned and Zack bit his lip in thought.

"There's no way of knowing, yo." Reno spoke up. "We gotta start with whatever information we've got."

"True," Tifa sighed. "I just wish we had some other clue of some sort."

"Like Zack said before, we might find something in Nibelheim." Cloud shrugged.

"_Tifa!_"

The terrified scream sounded from upstairs and in an instant Tifa had leapt from her chair and was racing up to find the children. Cloud, Zack and Reno all stared at each other in shock before also getting up and following.

Tifa entered Marlene's bedroom and found Denzel on his knees in the middle of the room with one hand on his forehead and the other on the ground.

"Denzel? Are you okay?" Tifa asked as she dropped to the floor beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He recoiled immediately and his eyes looked up at her in anger.

"Don't touch me." he spat. Tifa's eyes widened in horror as she stared at his face and where the beginnings of geostigma was appearing.

"Zack; grab a cloth and dunk it in cold water." Cloud ordered, pushing his way into the room and then bending down to scoop Denzel into his arms. He took him over to his bed and lay him down, ignoring the boys protests.

"What are you doing?" Denzel growled. "You're going to get it too just from touching me!"

"Cloud, here."

Cloud turned to take the wet cloth from Zack and then turned back to Denzel and lay it across the boys forehead.

"Try and relax." Cloud said. "You're going to be fine."

"I don't want you to get sick because of me!" Denzel continued to protest.

"If I do, it's my fault. Now lie still!" Cloud frowned slightly and firmly held Denzel's shoulders until he stopped moving around. "We're going to look after you."

"Why bother? I'll die anyway." Denzel muttered, choking over some of the words as he fought back a sob.

"Don't say that!" Tifa exclaimed, horrified.

"But everyone with the stigma dies! There's no cure!" Denzel yelled.

"Quiet!" Cloud ordered. The boy fell silent and looked away from them all. "You need to rest, so stop getting so worked up. Try and sleep."

Turning and heading towards the door, Cloud gestured for Tifa to follow him. They walked downstairs before Cloud turned to face her, a look of pain and confusion on his face.

"Fill me in on what I've missed. What's geostigma?" he asked.

"No one's really sure of how it's happened. But it's a new disease and it's deadly." Tifa explained quickly, not wanting to lose control of her emotions in front of Cloud.

"What does it do?" he pried.

"Well as you saw, it appears as a black substance on the skin. It's really painful and... very contagious." Tifa bit her lip nervously, now wondering herself whether or not Denzel would survive.

"And no one's been known to recover from it?" Cloud asked quietly.

"No one." Tifa confirmed in an equally quiet tone. Cloud began pacing in front of her, a look of concentration fixed to his face.

"Zack has to go look for Sephiroth. There's no way we can avoid that without risking the destruction of the entire world." Cloud said as he paced. He wrung his hands together and took a deep breath. "I'm going to find a cure for the geostigma. I don't care what it takes. I'll find one. You, Reno and Aerith stay here and look after Denzel. Make sure Marlene doesn't get too close to Denzel so she doesn't get it too." He stopped and turned to face her, now a look of determination on his face as he stared at her.

"Cloud, what do you-"

"Please Tifa! We have to stop Genesis' plan and I'm not going to let Denzel die." Cloud interrupted her. Tifa stared up at him with pain in her eyes and then stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Aerith and I can look after Denzel while you're gone. Reno should go with Zack." she murmured to him.

"That's a good idea. I'll let him know." Cloud replied, also putting his arms around her.

"Cloud, I'm so scared." Tifa whispered. "I'm scared for Zack, Reno, you and Denzel. And I'm scared that Marlene might get it too."

"It's going to be fine. I'll find a cure." Cloud reassured her.

"Try not to be long." Tifa urged. Cloud was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"If I leave now I'll be back sooner."

Tifa stepped back from him with a gasp, staring up at him with a horrified expression. "Cloud, not yet!"

"When, then? There's no point in waiting longer, Tifa." Cloud reasoned with a sigh. Tifa looked down sadly.

"I guess you're right."

*

"I'm sorry, I seem to have misunderstood you. Could you say that again?" Rufus asked, puzzled. He stared at Genesis with a frown on his face as the red-head sighed and folded his arms.

"You should have told me that before!" Cissnei exclaimed, her eyes wide. "I didn't understand what you meant when you spoke to me last."

"I'm sorry for not being clear. I was in a hurry." Genesis apologised.

"One more time for the record. _What_ do you wish to achieve?" Rufus asked, anger beginning to build up inside him.

"I need to find Sephiroth."

"I gathered that much! I want to find him too!" Rufus fumed. "But what after that?"

"I just finished explaining all of this, however for your benefit I believe I will have to repeat it. With the help of Sephiroth, I wish to unlock the true meaning of LOVELESS." Genesis said.

"LOVELESS... you only care about LOVELESS..." Rufus turned away, putting a hand to his head and closing his eyes as he tried to calm himself down and keep from yelling in his anger.

"I'll tell Reno! Once they know you're on our side we can all work together to find Sephiroth!" Cissnei said enthusiastically as she began pulling her PHS from her pocket.

"No you will not!" Rufus roared, half standing from his wheelchair and then falling back down with a wince. His breathing sped up and he wheezed, placing a hand against the bandages around his chest. Cissnei had frozen in the act of dialling Reno's number and now looked utterly terrified.

"You're not in any shape to be making orders." Genesis pointed out.

"Don't speak to me like that." Rufus snapped, trying to calm his breathing. "I wish for you to refer to me as President or Sir."

"President of what, _Sir_?" Genesis sneered.

"Don't you dare!-"

"As I said. You're in no shape to be making orders. From now on I will be the one in control and you will take orders from me. Cissnei, call Reno and inform him of what's going on. Rude, I want you to go over there and fix your friendship with him so that you can be partners again. And Rufus, you can stay here with me and explain why exactly you wanted to take over the world."


	29. Chapter 29

Cloud was gone when Reno got the call. Reno had been with Tifa and Zack, talking about what they were going to take with them to search for Sephiroth when his phone had rung and Cissnei had told him Genesis was on their side and wanted to help. She had also told him that Rude was on his way over – something which lightened Reno's spirits a whole lot.

"This is great!" Tifa exclaimed as they waited for Rude to arrive. "Now we can take our time searching for Sephiroth because we won't have to race against Genesis!"

"Yeah, and there'll be more of us together for when we actually do find Sephiroth." Zack nodded.

"I feel a whole lot better about this situation now, yo." Reno said with a sigh and a stretch. There was a smile on his face again.

"I just wish he'd hurry-!" Tifa stopped as a knock sounded on the door and Reno laughed, running out of the room to go and answer it. Tifa grinned and rolled her eyes as Zack snickered at her also.

When Reno returned with Rude by his side, they went back to talking about what they were going to do. Rude told them about what had gone on with Rufus since Reno had left and then about how Genesis wanted to unlock the true meaning of LOVELESS.

"I forgot about that!" Zack groaned. "I'm gonna have to listen to him quoting his stupid poem all day and night when we set off!"

"I'm sure you'll get over it." Tifa giggled, then sighed. "I just wish Cloud hadn't left so soon so that he could have taken the knowledge that Genesis is on our side with him. It probably would have made him feel much better. But Zack, do you have his phone number?"

"Don't even bother!" Zack replied. "He never answers the darn thing. He's probably forgotten he owns one."

Tifa sighed and looked down at the ground, defeated. She had really hoped they would be able to get a message to him to lighten his mood slightly.

"When are we going to set out?" Rude asked curiously from where he stood.

"We should leave now," Zack said. "So that all of this can be cleared up faster and we might be able to then find Cloud and let him know what's happened."

"Good idea." Tifa nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about us, Teef," Reno said with a smile to her. "We'll all be fine and before you know it we'll be knocking on the door again yelling out stories of how we succeeded."

Tifa smiled slightly, thankful for the comfort Reno was giving her even though it was only small. She didn't want to stay behind and let them go alone, but she did feel better knowing that there would be more of them together. Especially since Genesis was on their side now.

Also, she was well aware of the fact that she was needed to look after Marlene and Denzel.

"Come on, then," Zack said, picking up his bag and heading for the door. "The more we dawdle..."

"Yeah, yeah." Reno rolled his eyes but grinned and he and Rude walked outside behind Zack.

Tifa was glad none of them had tried to say an actual goodbye, because she didn't think she would have been able to handle it if they had.

Just as Tifa was turning around to go back upstairs and check on the kids again, there came a light voice from the front door.

"Tifa, I'm here."

Tifa spun around and couldn't help but grin as she saw Aerith. She had completely forgotten the other girl was coming and was relieved to see that she wouldn't have to be alone now.

"Hey!" Tifa said, greeting her with a hug.

"How are they?" Aerith asked gently, gesturing minutely towards the stairs so that Tifa knew what she was talking about.

"They're alright," Tifa shrugged. "But Denzel's geostigma has been hurting him more lately."

"Would you mind if I had a look at him?" Aerith asked cautiously. "I'd like to see just how bad his geostigma is and get a bit of an idea of what geostigma is like."

"Oh, sure, of course." Tifa nodded, now remembering that Aerith probably didn't really know what geostigma was either because she had been in hiding with Cloud as well.

Tifa and Aerith then made their way upstairs to where Denzel was lying down, eyes staring sadly at the roof above him. When they entered he looked over and recoiled slightly.

"Don't touch me." he warned in a whisper.

"I just want to see what this geostigma is like." Aerith said softly, her voice tinkling like a fairy's. Denzel visibly relaxed, to Tifa's astonishment, and allowed Aerith to walk over and lay her hand on his forehead where the geostigma was worst.

"Aerith, be careful." Tifa said then, fearing for her friend and hoping she wasn't going to end up catching the disease.

"It's fine," Aerith said with a smile. "It's not as bad as I thought it was."

"What do you mean by that?" Tifa asked curiously, and Aerith could see in Denzel's eyes that he too wanted to know the answer to that question.

"I thought it was going to be worse than it is, but how it is now is definitely curable in my eyes." Aerith said, taking her hand back from Denzel's head.

"But there's no cure." Tifa said softly.

"I know, but if there was Denzel would be in no danger. If it worse, though, even an apparent 'cure' may not work." Aerith explained.

"That doesn't help," Denzel said grumpily. "There's still no hope for me."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Aerith said, reaching over to stroke his hair softly. "I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

"You should..." Tifa paused. "You should wash your hands."

"There's no need." Aerith said quietly, still smiling. "It's not contagious."

*

Zack, Reno and Rude went to where Rufus was staying and was met at the door by Cissnei, who Reno frowned at because she looked a lot more flustered than she had been before.

"You okay?" Reno asked her as they walked in and she nodded.

"Of course. Why?" she asked innocently.

"No reason, yo." Reno shrugged and continued past her and through to the next room, finding Genesis and Rufus.

"Ah, you're back." Genesis said, turning to him.

"Genesis, I want to be upfront with you!" Zack called out, pushing his way into the room and standing to face the red-head. "If you _dare_ quote LOVELESS at all while we set off on this mission, I will kill you!"

"It's good to see you haven't changed at all." Genesis said calmly.

"I'm being serious." Zack said, folding his arms.

"I don't doubt that!" Genesis chuckled. "Anyway, Rufus has told me he doesn't approve of what we're doing so we'll have to bring him with us."

"What?" Reno protested.

"It's for the best, otherwise he might end up finding more people who blindly follow him and then attempt to find Sephiroth before we do." Genesis explained.

"That's understandable." Rude nodded.

"Great, we're going on a mission with a LOVELESS-quoting-weirdo and a psychopath who wants to take over to world." Zack groaned.

Genesis smirked and glanced over at Rufus, who appeared incredibly angry at something.

"Where's Cloud? I thought _he_ of all people would want to join in the fun." Rufus spat in annoyance, having noticed the absence of the blond.

"He's obviously not here and it's none of your business what he's doing." Zack snapped.

"Chicken out, did he? Or maybe he's just not ready to accept Genesis' apology?" Rufus jeered.

"Ignore him," Genesis said as he noticed Zack getting more and more riled up. "We need to set out quickly."

"He's right." Rude agreed with a nod.

Zack sighed and tore his gaze away from Rufus, doing his best not to let his anger take over him.

Slowly, everyone began filing out of the room, collecting things on their way and then going out to the truck that was parked out the front and getting into it. Genesis wheeled Rufus out in his wheelchair and carefully loaded him into the passenger, wanting to be able to keep an eye on him as he drove.

Then he got in, started it up, and they were away – setting off on their journey to find Sephiroth.


	30. Chapter 30

Cloud didn't know where to go first and only knew that he had to find _something_ or else his entire mission would be pointless. He found himself nearing Kalm after a few hours and wondered if anyone there would know how to help.

When he rode his bike in and parked, he scanned around with his eyes for anyone that looked like they knew something. He knew that was stupid though, because how was he supposed to be able to tell just by looking at them?

Making his way to the closest inn, he figured he'd ask the innkeeper if they knew anything and go on from there.

"Excuse me," Cloud said once he was inside.

"You here for a room? That'll be-"

"Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything about geostigma." Cloud cut in quickly. "It's a disease which apparently has no cure."

"Of course I know about geostigma! My daughter was taken by that plague. If you've got it, you'd best leave. We don't want no more trouble with that and it's only just been starting to go back to normal around here." the man said with narrowed eyes.

"Do you know of a cure? Has anyone discovered anything?" Cloud asked desperately.

"There's nothing. You get it, you die. It's simple. Come on, stop wasting my time."

Cloud stared at the man sadly for a moment before lowering his eyes and walking out. He'd have to search elsewhere, then. Whatever happened, he knew he was going to find a cure. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he didn't.

Without much of another glance around Kalm, Cloud got back on his bike and rode out.

It was only when he was driving through the grasslands that he came across a group of young people, huddled together in silence. Slowing down, he pulled up near them and walked over.

"Go away!" one of the girls yelled at him, anger in her eyes that made him pause and frown.

"Yeah, just go before you insult us," a younger girl said before looking down and wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm sorry, I just have a question..." Cloud trailed off as he saw one of the boys shift, showing his neck covered in black ooze which was terrifyingly familiar. Letting his eyes wander over the rest of the group, he suddenly realised why they were out here.

They all had geostigma.

"You have the stigma." he said softly.

"Hence why you should _leave,_" the girl who had spoken first hissed at him. "Unless you want it too?"

"Actually, the reason why I'm out here is because I'm looking for a cure. I know someone who's got it pretty bad and... I have to help them." Cloud said.

"How sad." the girl said monotonously.

"I get it that you've had it pretty rough, but please, if you know anything-"

"Don't you think we wouldn't be like this if we knew something? Don't you think we would have followed the lead desperately until finding a cure if there was _something out there_ to find?" the girl snapped angrily, standing up to face him. Despite the fact that she was holding her stomach, Cloud found her intimidating.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah? Well... tell it to-to... someone who..." The girl gasped and turned, running away from the group and disappearing behind a dilapidated wooden building. The sound of retching filled Cloud's ears before there was silence. He waited for her to come back and continue where she had left off, but she didn't show. The girl who had spoken second shifted across to one of the boys and clutched him tightly, beginning to cry.

Cloud slowly walked past them towards the wooden building, fearing what he would find behind it.

Five minutes later Cloud was riding his bike again, clutching the handlebars in a death grip as he stared ahead and told himself firmly that he would find a cure. He had to.

There was simply no other option.

*

Aerith hummed as she changed the sheets on Denzel's bed, smiling as the sounds of the two children playing reached her ears. She had been afraid that the geostigma would be a lot worse when Zack first told her about it, but seeing Denzel's case relaxed her.

The fact that it wasn't contagious also made her feel better, but she wished she knew more about what caused it so that she might be able to help Cloud discover a cure.

Just as she was leaving the room, Tifa appeared.

"Any ideas yet?" she asked curiously. Aerith had spoken to her briefly before about the fact that it wasn't contagious. It was the Cetra in her which had made it possible to sense that the geostigma wasn't contagious, but Aerith still needed to work on a way to use her abilities to sense what causes it.

"Not yet. I promise I'll tell you as soon as I do, though." Aerith promised. Tifa nodded quietly and bit her lip.

"I worry about him. He's having such a rough time. Only recently his foster parents were killed." Tifa admitted.

"I'm sure everything will turn out fine in the end." Aerith said with a smile.

"Yeah," Tifa sighed. "I sure hope so."

"Maybe Cloud will find a cure."

"I... yeah, maybe he will." Tifa turned away and Aerith looked down, knowing that the other girl highly doubted that he would find one.

"Would you like to help me make lunch?" Aerith asked, and Tifa turned back with a small smile.

"Definitely."


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: Surprise! =D

I haven't written this story in so long that it simply isn't funny any more. I'm really sorry for the... 9 month delay [NINE MONTHS OH MY GOSH] but at least it's here, right? And I even deliberately made sure it was slightly longer than the last chapter because I knew you'd be wanting more to read since it's been so long. So I hope you enjoy this because I'd also like to announce:

I have a renewed feeling of excitement for this story and there is a lot of goodness to come =]

* * *

When Genesis stopped the truck just outside Nibelheim, everyone stared in surprise. The town that most of them remembered as a burning rubble from the day that Sephiroth had first lost his mind was thriving with life once again. As they piled out of the truck, they couldn't stop looking around at all the people that moved around calmly, as if nothing had ever happened to wreck their tranquil life. All of the houses had been rebuilt and it all looked brand new.

"I don't think we're gonna find Sephiroth anywhere around here," Zack said with a slight frown. "It certainly doesn't look like he's been around for a while."

"We should still look," Genesis said. "Just in case."

"Yeah." Zack took hold of Rufus' wheelchair and moved towards the town slightly before stopping again. "Is that..."

"What?" Cissnei asked, stepping up beside him and trying to see what he was looking at.

"Over there," Zack murmured, letting go of the wheelchair and walking forward more without it. He squinted slightly, drawing his eyebrows together as he stared. "It's... _Angeal!_"

Ignoring everyone's exclamations of questions, Zack suddenly ran off into the town by himself like a bullet. It was obvious he was heading somewhere in particular but none of the others were quite sure whether to take his words seriously or not. Hadn't Angeal been killed in the fight between all the other SOLDIERs when their mako was tainted by Hojo?

"I'll go after him," Cissnei suggested, beginning to take a step forward. Genesis reached out a put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"No," he said as he shook his head firmly. "I'll go."

Cissnei frowned, wondering why Genesis sounded so adamant, but nodded and allowed him to move ahead instead of her. She and the others watched him disappear into the town the way that Zack had gone and waited in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do or say now.

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Reno asked after a while.

* * *

"Angeal! Angeal, it's me! Zack!"

Zack darted around people, his eyes fixed on the sight of his former mentor. He could see the man turning, confused as to who was calling his name. He had his wing out behind him and was tense, but as soon as he finally saw Zack hurtling towards him his mouth fell open and he gasped.

"Zack?"

Zack promptly slammed into Angeal, hugging him tightly before leaping back and shaking his head continusously.

"I thought you were dead! I thought you died! But you're alive! How are you alive? This is so awesome!"

Angeal laughed and patted Zack's shoulder affectionately.

"I never went back to ShinRa," Angeal explained with a shrug. "Does that explain your question?"

"Oh, of course! So you were never exposed to the poisoned mako?" Zack asked to clarify.

"Exactly," Angeal nodded. "But what are you doing here now, after so long? Where have you been?"

"After the fight with Sephiroth all those years ago, Cloud and I were taken to be tested on by Hojo. I broke us out and we had to go on the run. You'll never believe it but _Reno_ helped us escape and hide! It took us a while to figure out ShinRa had collapsed but then we didn't have to hide any more." Zack grinned.

"Hojo tested on you?" Angeal asked, horrified.

"Not much," Zack shrugged. "Although Cloud did get pretty bad mako poisoning afterwards since he'd never been exposed to it before."

"How is that kid?" Angeal asked.

"Kid?" Zack laughed. "He's definitely not a kid any more, Angeal!"

"Wow," Angeal frowned. "I wonder what he looks like now. I can't believe it's been so long since everything that happened. And I must say, Zack, you do look a lot more grown up than you did before."

"Hey! Is that a compliment or an insult?" Zack whined.

Laughing, Angeal said, "Take it as a compliment."

"Angeal."

Turning, Angeal's eyes almost popped out of his head as he stared at the man before him. Genesis, his old friend? But what-

"What are you doing here?" Angeal asked harshly, clenching his hands into fists at his sides.

"That's an interesting way to greet a friend, Angeal," Genesis mused.

"Not when it's a friend who betrayed me," Angeal retorted. "So are you going to tell me what you're doing here?"

"Whoa," Zack held his hands up. "Angeal, he's with me."

Shocked, Angeal asked, "What did you tell him in order to get him to go along with you?"

"The truth," Genesis shrugged. "That I want to unlock the true meaning of LOVELESS."

"Is that all you told him?" Angeal asked.

"What is going _on_?" Zack asked, clueless as he glanced between them. They ignored his question.

"They didn't ask for anything more," Genesis shrugged with a smirk.

"They?"

Genesis folded his arms and nodded. "Zack isn't by himself, you know."

Angeal turned away from him and finally gave Zack his attention again. Zack looked like he was about to burst and exhaled loudly when Angeal looked at him.

"Yes," Zack said sarcastically. "I'm still here."

"Zack," Angeal drew his eyebrows together in a frown. "Who came with you?"

"Oh, um," Zack tilted his head, thinking. "Cissnei, Reno and Rude came since we met up with Rufus and that's how we found Genesis. So yeah, Rufus came as well. That's about it, really. We left Tifa and Aerith at Seventh Heaven – erm, that's Tifa's bar in case you didn't know. And Cloud's gone off looking for a cure for geostigma. Have you heard about that yet?"

Angeal looked deeply thoughtful when Zack finally stopped speaking and he didn't respond right away.

Finally, he said, "Yeah, I've heard of geostigma. A couple of people here in Nibelheim got it once."

"Sorry to hear that," Zack said softly, looking down at the ground awkwardly.

"What?" Angeal asked with a light laugh. "You make it sound like someone died. I only said someone got sick."

Zack froze and slowly lifted his head to look at Angeal, not sure if he could trust his ears right now. Surely he had misheard his friend?

"What do you mean they only got sick? Do you mean they still have the stigma now?" Zack asked. Now that he thought about it, he figured that had to be what Angeal had meant. That they hadn't died yet because they still had the disease.

"No," Angeal shook his head. "They recovered. Why?"

Zack turned to look at Genesis, eyes wide and wanting to see how the other man was reacting to this information. Genesis appeared slightly thoughtful, but other than that his expression had hardly changed at all.

"This is... like..."

"You said Cloud had gone to look for a cure for the geostigma, yes?" Angeal asked.

"Yes!" Zack exclaimed, nodding his head firmly. He was beginning to think Cloud _definitely_ should have come with them instead of looking for a cure on his own. What if there was a cure here, right in his old home town?

"I hope he finds one," Angeal said.

"Okay, stop!" Zack said, yelling in frustration. "You're not making any sense!"

"How am I not making sense?" Angeal frowned.

"If someone gets geostigma, they die!" Zack snapped. "So how can you tell me that some people here in Nibelheim got it, but overcame it?"

Angeal didn't speak for a moment, apparently as surprised as Zack was at this point.

"I don't know," Angeal shook his head. "I didn't know that people died from it. We haven't really had much contact with anyone outside of Nibelheim ever since it was burnt down."

"Great," Zack sighed. "So you don't know how they survived but there's now a definite chance you've got a cure around here. How on earth did the people here in Nibelheim get over it, do you remember?"

Angeal scratched his head and shrugged vaguely. "I remember some of them got really sick one day and everyone pitched in trying to help them get better. We just tried to make them more comfortable and made sure to keep their wounds clean. Apart from slight pain, they seemed fine. And a couple days later they recovered without a problem."

"You didn't use anything only native to Nibelheim on the wounds?" Zack asked.

"No," Angeal said.

"Well, this is definitely a mystery!" Zack said, putting his hands on his hips. "I just wish Cloud had come with us, now."

"I'm sorry I don't know any more," Angeal said. "I honestly had no idea it was a deadly disease."

"It's okay, we'll figure something out," Zack waved it off with a sigh. "But why exactly are you still here? I remember you flying off that day, so why did you return?"

"I didn't go far," Angeal explained. "I knew I couldn't leave you all by yourselves in case something went really badly. But when I saw Genesis leave I figured things would settle down again."

"Things most certainly did _not_," Zack rolled his eyes.

"Okay," Angeal folded his arms. "Looks like you have even _more_ explaining to do. What happened when Genesis left?"

"Yes, what did happen? I never found out," Genesis piped up, suddenly interested in what Zack had to say.

Taking a deep breath, Zack began to fill them in on what had happened with Sephiroth talking about mother and then how Cloud had done everything he could to stop him, resulting in the 1st Class SOLDIER throwing himself off the platform.

"That's all I know about Sephiroth," Zack said afterwards. "I haven't seen him since and after that Cloud and I were taken back with Hojo."

"Right," Genesis turned to Angeal. "So we've come here looking for Sephiroth. Have you seen him?"

Angeal shook his head slowly, unable to keep the sadness out of his body language. "Maybe he's dead."

"You honestly think Sephiroth could have been killed by something like that?" Genesis asked him.

Angeal sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. He didn't know what to think any more, but he _did_ want to believe that Sephiroth was still alive. Even though from what he had just heard Sephiroth had partially lost his mind, he still thought there would be some good left in his friend. Just as he hoped he might somehow be able to stop Genesis from doing anything stupid now that they had caught up to each other again.

"You can go have a look around the reactor if you want," Angeal said finally. "I don't think you'll find anything, but go ahead and see for yourselves. We left it alone when rebuilding everything so it looks exactly the same as it did all those years ago."

"So is that what you've been doing here?" Zack asked. "Helping to rebuild the town?"

"Yeah," Angeal nodded. "I felt bad since I was half responsible for it happening. Rebuilding was the least I could do for them all."

"I suppose your honour wouldn't have been able to cope if you simply walked away without doing anything, am I right?" Genesis mocked.

"A SOLDIERs honour is everything," Angeal said. "You would do well to remember that."

"My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honour remains," Genesis replied.

"Someone shoot me in the head," Zack groaned. "He's quoting LOVELESS."


End file.
